Guidance

Requirements and guidance for apprenticeship assessment

Published 16 December 2025

Applies to England

Introduction

In February 2025, the Department for Education (DfE) published its Apprenticeship Assessment Principles. These principles set out a range of changes to the current approach to apprenticeship assessment. They apply to all apprenticeships, at all levels, including Foundation Apprenticeships. 

The changes will create a more responsive apprenticeship assessment system, with more flexibility that will ensure assessment is taking place in the right place and at the right time, making best use of assessment organisations’ expertise in assessment design. It will be more proportionate, reducing the burden on apprentices and employers (especially where assessment may take several days) while maintaining rigour and quality. External assessment will happen when it is most needed, freeing up assessor time and reducing assessment delays which currently affect apprentices, their employers, providers and the wider economy.

To successfully implement these changes, all apprenticeship assessment plans will be reviewed to determine changes to the format and content. The preparation of revised assessment plans will be done in consultation with a range of stakeholders, including employers, training providers, and assessment organisations to ensure it continues to meet the needs of both the employer and learner. Assessment organisations will build on apprenticeship assessment plans to develop more detailed assessment strategies and specifications which support high quality assessments of occupational competence.

In achieving greater flexibility, it is likely that there will be more diversity of approach between assessment organisations. It is important, therefore, to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to maintain confidence, including to support comparability of outcomes.

The Requirements for Apprenticeship Assessment (see below) set out and explain the features of assessment plans, what is required of all apprenticeship assessments, and provide additional information and guidance to ensure apprenticeship assessments continue to be valid and reliable.

The status of this document

This is an interim document, intended to support apprenticeship users (including assessment organisation, apprentices, employers and training providers) - to understand the likely content of the general apprenticeship assessment requirements. There is a high dependency between the general apprenticeship assessment requirements and the regulatory requirements of other organisations, including Ofqual and the Office for Students (OfS). A final version of these requirements will be published when Ofqual and OfS have confirmed any changes to their regulation of apprenticeships, which is expected in Spring 2026.

Until this time, please treat the content of this document as indicative only and subject to change.

A note on additional qualifications mandated within occupational standards (mandatory qualifications)

In some cases, apprenticeships will contain additional qualifications (sometimes referred to as ‘mandatory qualifications’). The requirements set out in this document do not apply to these additional qualifications, irrespective of the size of the qualification and its role in assessment for the apprenticeship.

Where a mandatory qualification only partially assesses the knowledge and skills of the apprenticeship and some apprenticeship assessment is necessary, these requirements apply to the apprenticeship assessment only.  Please refer to Additional qualifications mandated within occupational standards for more information.

Regulation and external quality assurance of apprenticeship assessment

Ofqual and The Office for Students (OfS) regulate apprenticeship assessment through their regulatory frameworks. A number of other industry-specific bodies also deliver External Quality Assurance, monitoring assessment quality. We are working closely with them to determine whether these requirements need to be supplemented with additional requirements to support external quality assurance activities.

The general apprenticeship assessment requirements

These are the requirements that will apply to all apprenticeship assessments in all instances.

Content of an apprenticeship assessment plan

Apprenticeship Assessment Plans (AAPs) set out the minimum requirements for the assessment of a specific apprenticeship. Assessment organisations must design apprenticeship assessments that comply with the expectations set out in an AAP, as well as any requirements described here or in other regulations.

As a minimum, each Apprenticeship Assessment Plan contains:

Section	Description
Introduction	Explains the assessment plan’s purpose, status and relationship to other documents.
Assessment outcomes	Summarises the content of the occupational standard into assessment outcomes and explains which knowledge and skills statements map to each outcome. Where there is an additional qualification mandated, these outcomes describe the content (if any) that is not assessed by the qualification. This section also sets out the mandatory knowledge and skills statements that must be assessed in every version of the assessment that is made available. Knowledge and skills statements which offer opportunities to develop functional English and maths are identified with an asterisk.
Assessment requirements	Outlines the mandatory assessment method that must be used in every version of the assessment that is made available, together with optional, additional assessment methods as appropriate. Outlines any additional requirements regarding the setting, marking or timing of assessments.
Performance descriptors	Describes the characteristics of a ‘pass’ and ‘distinction’.

This is true of all apprenticeship assessment plans, except where a mandatory qualification (MQ) replaces the apprenticeship assessment.

Assessment Outcomes

Assessment organisations must ensure that all assessment outcomes are assessed in each version of the apprenticeship assessment that they make available.

Purpose of Assessment Outcomes

Apprenticeship assessment continues to assess an apprentice’s occupational competence. It evaluates an apprentice’s ability to perform their role effectively, determining whether they have the knowledge and skills to undertake the required tasks at the right level.

Apprenticeship assessment, as now, assesses apprentices on the content of the occupational standard. However, to support the implementation of DfE’s apprenticeship assessment principles, how we translate that content into assessment plans has changed. One of the key changes is the introduction of assessment outcomes, which aims to support users to understand the content areas within an occupational standard. It does this by grouping related knowledge and skills statements together in a way that clearly describes what a competent apprentice must be able to demonstrate.

Assessment outcomes describe, in broad terms, what an apprentice is expected to know, understand, and do as a result of their training. Each assessment outcome summarises a group of knowledge and skill statements. Each knowledge and skill statement is mapped to only one assessment outcome. The outcomes are a clear and measurable way of grouping the knowledge and skills in the occupational standard for the purposes of assessing occupational competence.

They support assessment organisations to design assessments that are:​

• balanced (not over- or under-assessing content areas)​
• proportionate (aimed at what matters most)​
• flexible (supporting sampling, a range of valid assessment approaches)​

One of the primary purposes of an assessment outcome is balance. They support assessment organisations to achieve a reasonable, proportionate, and balanced assessment of the knowledge and skills in the standard. This is especially important in reformed assessment plans, where assessment organisations will design assessment strategies and play an increased role in choosing assessment methods. Assessment outcomes support comparability of outcomes.

Assessment outcomes also support sampling, where appropriate, by indicating broad occupational functions within which sampling is permitted. It will be the responsibility of assessment organisations to ensure that any sampling results in the valid and reliable assessment of occupational competence (as evidenced by meeting all of the assessment outcomes), whilst mitigating any risks to predictability.

Assessment outcomes are not a replacement for grading descriptors. Assessment organisations will develop their own grading models to support the marking of individual assessments.

Characteristics of Assessment Outcomes

Each assessment outcome:

• has a title and short description
• is mapped uniquely to a group of knowledge and skill statements
• states what an occupationally competent apprentice knows, understands and can do by the end of their training in relation to the knowledge and skills mapped to the assessment outcome
• does not include quality descriptors such as efficiently and accurately
• gives preference to practical command verbs, to describe what an apprentice can do but acknowledges the underpinning knowledge

Collectively, a set of assessment outcomes:

• cover every knowledge and skill statement in an occupational standard (except those assessed by a mandatory qualification, where applicable)
• represent all of the assessment to be designed for the standard, each assessment outcome accounting for an approximately equal portion of the assessment

How Assessment Outcomes Interact with Other Elements of the Assessment Plan

Assessment outcomes are only one part of the assessment plan, and the assessment plan itself is only one part of the final assessment design.

Primarily, they tell assessment organisations what proportion of the overall assessment should target which knowledge and skills. Any one assessment method could partially or wholly cover several assessment outcomes. Equally, any one assessment outcome could be covered across two or more assessments.

Assessment organisations will determine how the knowledge and skill statements are mapped to specific assessment methods, in line with their assessment strategy (or equivalent documentation) and subject to any additional requirements in the assessment plan.

The level of the standard is determined by the universal level descriptors.

Performance descriptors

Assessment organisations must design assessments that align with the expectations of the performance descriptors. Assessments must also give apprentices sufficient opportunity to demonstrate both pass and distinction grades.

Purpose of Performance Descriptors

Performance Descriptors describe the level of performance required to achieve a pass or distinction. They align with previous guidance on level descriptors (Levels 2-7) and are designed to support consistency of outcomes across different assessments and different organisations.

Performance descriptors support standard setting and grading that is:

• consistent across different assessment organisations
• fair to apprentices regardless of assessment approach
• transparent to employers and stakeholders

Performance Descriptors help achieve this by providing a shared reference point for what constitutes pass and distinction-level performance at each level. They are not intended to be used directly by assessors to mark assessments. Instead, they inform the development of assessments and assessment criteria by assessment organisations.

Characteristics of Performance Descriptors

Generic performance descriptors have been created to describe the expected level at which an apprentice must demonstrate their knowledge and skills at ‘pass’ and ‘distinction’ grades, appropriate to the level of the apprenticeship. They do this across 6 performance categories:

• Applied knowledge
• Applied skills
• Regulatory and procedural awareness
• Communication and collaboration
• Information use and decision making
• Responsibility and autonomy

There will be one set of generic performance descriptors for each level between Level 2 and Level 7 (inclusive).

These generic descriptors are then developed and refined to reflect the specific needs of an occupation, including information and insight prepared by employers, assessment organisations, training providers and other relevant organisations. This includes ensuring the performance descriptors reflect role-specific qualities, align with the assessment outcomes, and accurately describe the quality and effectiveness of an apprentice’s performance.

Passing the assessment

The available grades for a reformed apprenticeship assessment will be ‘pass’ and ‘distinction’. Where there is an exception to this it will be set out in the apprenticeship’s assessment plan.

To achieve a pass, all assessment outcomes must be demonstrated to the level described in the performance descriptors. Where an apprenticeship is assessed by two or more assessments, an apprentice must achieve a pass in all assessments to achieve a pass in their apprenticeship.

Previously, a merit grade was available in some standards. The lack of consistency between apprenticeships presented several problems for apprentices and employers, including the ease of understanding outcomes and fairness. Standardising grades to remove the availability of a merit grade will help to address these issues.

Mandatory knowledge and skills assessment

To ensure appropriate coverage of the apprenticeship standard and give confidence to users of the apprenticeship, each AAP specifies an appropriate subset of knowledge and skills statements that is mandatory. This means that the identified content must be assessed in each version of the apprenticeship assessment(s) that an assessment organisation makes available.

The proportion of mandatory content identified will be significant, and likely to vary from standard to standard, depending on the needs of the occupation. We will work closely with stakeholders, including employers, assessment organisations, industry regulators and professional bodies, to ensure the correct content is identified and will issue guidance to support this.

Individual knowledge and skills statements can sometimes cover a wide range of content, for example different outputs, outcomes, products or procedures. In these cases, assessment organisations are usually permitted to sample within individual knowledge and skills statements and the assessment will not require apprentices to demonstrate all of the outcomes, products or procedures in the statement. For example, a catering apprenticeship might include a single skill statement requiring several different pastry types, such as choux, sweet, short, puff and sable. To sample within a statement would mean that an apprentice could demonstrate their competence by producing a selection of these pastry types, rather than being required to demonstrate them all in their formal assessment.

Sampling within individual knowledge and skills statements is permitted for mandatory statements, when appropriate. In all instances, assessment organisations must strike an appropriate balance between proportionality and validity in any sampling approach they adopt.

Where justified by evidence of risk, regulation or recognised industry standards, apprenticeship assessment plans may sometimes set out limitations to assessment organisations’ freedom to sample knowledge and skills statements. In these cases, the AAP will provide additional information.

Sampling non-mandatory knowledge and skills

It will not usually be necessary for all knowledge and skills statements in the apprenticeship assessment plan to be assessed in every version. Assessment organisations are permitted to develop assessments that sample between any non-mandatory knowledge and skills statements. It is the responsibility of the assessment organisation to devise an appropriate sampling approach that leads to reliable assessment of occupational competence whilst mitigating any risks to validity, predictability and comparability. 

Assessment organisations are required to assess all assessment outcomes.

Number of assessments

To support innovation, flexibility and efficiency, there is no longer a common expectation of the number of assessments across all apprenticeships. Instead, each apprenticeship assessment plan will set out one required assessment method which must be used in each version of the apprenticeship’s assessment that is made available. Assessment organisations will select appropriate methods to assess the remaining content where required, balancing validity and reliability with delivering proportionate assessments that reduce assessment burden.

The required method will be chosen with advice from assessment organisations, employers and training providers when preparing the apprenticeship assessment plan. Its aim is to give users confidence in assessment outcomes by ensuring that apprentices will have one common feature in their assessment, regardless of where and when the assessment takes place.

Assessment organisations must consider the proportionality, efficiency and potential burden of any assessment it makes available, in line with DfE principles. It is the responsibility of the assessment organisation to design apprenticeship assessment that is reliable, valid, and meets the requirements of both the assessment plan and any relevant regulations.

When justified by evidence, the apprenticeship assessment plan may:

• provide a shortlist of approved assessment methods from which assessment organisations can select
• set out more than one required assessment method
• set out all of the assessment methods that must be used in every version of the apprenticeship assessment

Where this is the case, the reason will be given in the apprenticeship assessment plan, alongside any other factors that the assessment organisations should consider in the development of their assessments.

Regard to external documents

Where appropriate, apprenticeship assessment plans may require assessment organisations to have due regard to externally held documents relevant to the occupation. This may include industry regulations, guidance, professional standards, frameworks and other documents of similar purpose and standing. These will usually be published by industry regulators, professional bodies or other representative groups.

‘Due regard’ should be interpreted as having full awareness and understanding of what those documents set out, using them to inform decision making, and as far as possible putting them into practice.

Gateway to completion

Before a certificate can be requested, the organisation requesting the certificate must confirm that the apprentice has achieved the requirements set out in an apprenticeship assessment plan. 

These requirements include confirming the apprentice has sufficiently demonstrated the required behaviours (described in the occupational standard) with the employer. They may also include:

• the achievement of any additional qualifications mandated within the occupational standard
• the achievement of English and maths qualifications, as per the latest version of the apprenticeship funding rules

To reflect that apprenticeship assessment can now take place at any stage of the apprenticeship, the term ‘gateway’ or ‘gateway to assessment’ has now been replaced by ‘gateway to completion’. This was initially set out in the Department for Education’s Funding Rules, published in May 2025.

Gateway to completion will continue to be used as a checkpoint at the end of an apprenticeship programme to ensure that the apprentice has completed all necessary requirements and is ready to receive their certificate. Necessary requirements still include: the completion of English and maths qualifications (where applicable), any additional qualifications (where applicable) along with satisfactory evidence (as determined by the employer, in consultation with the main provider) that the apprentice has achieved the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the standard.

Employers and training providers should have ongoing conversations throughout the learning period about assessment readiness, mandatory qualifications and competence, with regular progress reviews also including the apprentice. Gateway to completion should be used as the final opportunity to check the apprentice has met all the requirements for completion rather than the singular review point.

Additional qualifications mandated within occupational standards

Where necessary, additional qualifications can be mandated as a completion requirement for an apprenticeship. They are determined on a case-by-case basis for individual standards for one of the following reasons:

• the qualification is a regulatory or legal requirement to operate in that occupation
• the qualification is required for professional body membership
• the qualification has such currency in the labour market that an apprentice would be at a significant disadvantage without it

Qualifications will be carefully mapped against the knowledge and skills statements set out in the occupational standard and can be used in reformed apprenticeship assessments in one of three ways:

• a qualification can replace an apprenticeship’s assessment, this will happen when the qualification assesses all of the knowledge and skills of the occupational standard
• a qualification can replace an apprenticeship’s assessment when it covers a significant proportion of the apprenticeship assessment, and any remaining knowledge and skills statements are not sufficient to support the creation of an additional, valid and reliable assessment
• a qualification can be used alongside an apprenticeship’s assessment, where it covers some of the standard’s content but there is a significant amount of content remaining, for example, where the mandated qualification is a small health and safety qualification, usually taken at the start of an apprenticeship or where there are sufficient knowledge and skills statements remaining to support the creation of an additional, valid and reliable assessment

The requirements within this document will not apply to the qualifications that are used in an apprenticeship. Further guidance about the use of qualifications in apprenticeship assessment will be available in due course.

Verification of behaviours

It is the responsibility of the employer to review behaviours throughout the apprentice’s programme and confirm sufficient demonstration of these behaviours before a certificate can be requested. Further guidance on this will be provided before the reformed assessment plans are available for delivery.

This approach recognises the employer’s unique insight into the apprentice’s day-to-day conduct and alignment with workplace expectations, ensuring authentic and contextually grounded confirmation of behaviours.

Employers already review an apprentice’s demonstration of behaviours, both as part of their usual performance management processes, and in their previous gateway role (where they confirmed an apprentice had demonstrated the occupational standard’s knowledge, skills and behaviours sufficiently to start their end-point assessment).

Behaviours do not contribute to the grading of the apprenticeship. This means that while they must be sufficiently demonstrated in order for the apprenticeship certificate to be issued, they do not affect whether the apprentice is awarded a pass or a distinction grade.

Behaviours must be verified by someone (or a combination of people) who has worked closely with the apprentice and who has sufficient oversight of the apprentice and their work and has an understanding of the behaviours set out in the occupational standard. This would usually be the apprentice’s line manager or equivalent.

It is the responsibility of the employer to report their verification of the behaviours to the organisation requesting the apprenticeship certificate. Assessment organisations and providers are not required to assess behaviours or quality assure employer judgements.

English and maths in Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships

Essential English and maths skills underpin many Level 2 and Level 3 apprenticeship standards. Apprenticeship Assessment Plans for these levels will identify knowledge and skills statements that provide an opportunity to develop essential, occupationally relevant English and maths skills in a workplace setting. These statements are marked with an asterisk (*) to provide visibility for employers, apprentices, assessment organisations and training providers.  

Assessment of underpinning English and maths skills already occurs in apprenticeship assessment. This is most obvious where the knowledge or skills explicitly references these skills, for example ‘Communication methods, formats and techniques to help audiences understand data findings and their implications, for example written, verbal, non-verbal, presentation, email, conversation, storytelling and active listening’ (L3 Data Technician). However, in some apprenticeships, the skills are implied or described more subtly, especially in older standards. In those cases, it may be appropriate to highlight essential occupationally relevant English and maths skills within the assessment plan.

The approach above is intended to set out where occupationally relevant English and maths skills are developed, not to introduce additional assessment requirements for English and maths content, such as standalone assessments of English and/or maths. This will enable all users of apprenticeships to understand where English and maths skills are likely to be important when demonstrating occupational competence (for example, to tailor teaching and learning accordingly).

As described in Mandatory knowledge and skills assessment, AAPs will set out mandatory knowledge and skills which must be assessed in every version of the apprenticeship’s assessment. Where a mandatory knowledge or skill statement includes underpinning English or maths, AAPs may in some cases signal specific tasks that must be undertaken as part of the assessment, to ensure suitable coverage of those statements. For example, it may require direct assessment of an apprentice’s verbal communication skills, or a demonstration of having performed a calculation.

English and maths in apprenticeships at Level 4 and above

Apprenticeships at Level 4 and above become increasingly specialised and the nature of the English and maths skills within them changes to reflect this. The order of English and maths skills within these apprenticeships is often considerably higher, moving away from foundational skills and into increasingly expert usage.

Where appropriate, apprenticeship assessment plans will still identify underpinning English and maths skills, as outlined above for Level 2 and 3 apprenticeships. However, for some apprenticeships this will be unnecessary, for example where higher-level maths skills comprise a significant amount of the standard’s content. In these scenarios, we may include specific steers on how the English and maths content must be addressed in an assessment, but will not identify underpinning skills.

Resits and retakes

Resits and retakes are defined as follows:

• a resit does not require any further training or learning to be undertaken to pass the assessment
• a retake requires further training and learning for the apprentice to demonstrate they are working at or above the level set out in the apprenticeship standard

An assessment organisation’s approach to resits and retakes must not limit an apprentice’s ability to achieve a distinction grade or place a cap on the grade an apprentice can achieve, unless there is a justifiable industry requirement for such an approach. This is because there are many reasons an apprentice may not perform to their full ability in an assessment, and to cap a grade may mean their attainment is not evidenced by their outcome. This may disproportionately affect apprentices with a protected characteristic (for example, disability) and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.  

Where multiple assessments are undertaken, wherever possible apprentices should only resit or retake the assessment(s) in which they have been unsuccessful.