Guidance

Special consideration: Guide to the data submission process

Updated 21 September 2026

Applies to England and Northern Ireland

Introduction

In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide the following data for regulated qualifications.

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities and to fulfil our responsibility as a government department. In particular, this data is used in the publication of the Official Statistics report: Statistics: special consideration in GCSE, AS and A level - GOV.UK as well as the following interactive visualisation:

• Summary statistics for GCSE, AS and A level

Northern Ireland data will also be shared with CCEA Regulation to fulfil their own purposes as a regulator.

What data will be collected?

Data should relate to special consideration requests for GCSE, AS and A level.

Qualifications in scope

The following qualification types are in scope of this collection:

• GCSE (including short course)
• AS
• A level

Data should include both exam and non-exam assessments.

Countries in scope

Data should be included for all students in centres in:

• England
• Northern Ireland (on behalf of CCEA Regulation)

Time period in scope

Data is collected once per academic year, including both the latest June and November exam series. For detail on the exam series in scope of each return please see the reporting schedule.

When data will be collected

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is updated regularly.

How to submit your data

Your data must be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data document for more information. If you need to ask us about a data submission, please contact the Data Services team.

Please do not send your data files via email or via Contact the Regulator in the Portal.

Uploaded data

Once files have been successfully uploaded, the data will be validated against a set of validation rules.

If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into Ofqual’s internal systems and you will receive email confirmation. If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it.

The specific validation rules which are in place for this template are detailed in the ‘validation rules’ and ‘file format’ sections below.

Amendments to data

Errors or omissions in the data

Once the data has been successfully uploaded, it will be checked by Ofqual staff. If an error or omission is spotted, the data may be queried, and you may be requested to resubmit it. We will need to reject your existing submission ahead of a resubmission.

If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify Data Services by email. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.

If you wish to see your latest submission of a data return, for example to check the submission if it has been queried, please know it is available to download in the data portal.

Scheduled revisions of data

Each submission of this data is intended to show a snapshot in time. Therefore, there will be no resubmissions required to reflect any further updates to the data already submitted, unless an error or omission is spotted.

General completion guidelines

1. Numeric values must not have any formatting.
2. All fields are mandatory unless otherwise specified.
3. Submit 1 row of data per special consideration request and disadvantage category per component per student.
4. Where a single special consideration application covers multiple students and/or components, related rows should have identical values for ‘Request Identifier’.
5. Requests that are withdrawn should be reported as -2 for ‘Rejection reason’.
6. Requests that are rejected, pending or withdrawn or relate to a student that was absent should be reported as -2 for ‘Tariff’.

File format

The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.

Name	Description	Position	Description of Regular Expression	Validation Regular Expression
Reporting date	Date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual)	1	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted: yyyy-mm-dd	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Exam series	Exam series data relates to, for example June 2024	2	Full month name of exam series and year.	^(June)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$
Awarding Organisation	Awarding organisation acronym as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated organisations	3	Valid awarding organisation acronym. 1 to 150 characters accepted	^.{1,150}$
Centre No.	Centre’s National Centre Number as allocated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) Higher NCN code not accepted	4	Valid NCN code. 5-digit integer accepted Higher NCN code not accepted	^\d{5}$
Request identifier	Unique case identifier assigned by the awarding organisation	5	1 to 25 characters accepted	^.{1,25}$
Unique Candidate Identifier	Unique Candidate Identifier (UCI)	6	Valid UCI. Alpha numeric 13 characters accepted -2 accepted if not available	^(?:-2|.{13})$
QAN	The unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, for example 123/1234/1	7	Valid Qualification Number. 10 characters accepted. -2 also accepted for students not certificating	^(?:-2|.{10})$
Specification title	Specification title, also known as subject title	8	1 to 150 characters accepted. -2 also accepted for students not certificating	^(.{1,150})$
Specification code	Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code	9	One to 7 characters accepted. -2 also accepted for students not certificating	^(.{1,7})$
Qualification level	Type of qualification	10	Accepted values: • GCSE • AS • A level -2 also accepted for candidates not certificating	^(GCSE|AS|A level|-2)$
Unit/component description	Unit or component code assigned by the awarding organisation	11	1 to 10 characters accepted	^.{1,10}$
Assessment type	To indicate type of assessment, internal or external. Internal assessment means set and/or marked by centres. External assessment means that the assessment is externally set and marked by the awarding organisation or another independent body.	12	Accepted values: • Internal • External	^(Internal|External)$
Request date	Date when the request for special consideration was received by the awarding organisation.	13	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted: yyyy-mm-dd	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Exam/coursework date	Date the exam was taken by the student or submission deadline for non-exam assessment	14	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day-of-month (2 digits) Format accepted: yyyy-mm-dd	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$
Special consideration type	Type of special consideration applied for	15	Accepted values: • Present but disadvantaged • Absent with good reason	^(Present but disadvantaged|Absent with good reason)$
Disadvantage category	The disadvantage category. The list of disadvantage categories is given in Appendix A below. Choose the most appropriate one.	16	Accepted values: See appendix A. ‘Absent with good reason’ also accepted for absent candidates	See appendix A
Specific disadvantage	The specific disadvantage. See appendix A for further guidance.	17	Accepted values: See appendix A. ‘Absent with good reason’ also accepted for absent candidates	See appendix A
Tariff	Percentage allowance given to students who were present but disadvantaged	18	Integer between 0 to 5 accepted -2 accepted for rejected, pending, withdrawn or absent students	^(?:-2|\d{0,5})$
Status	Status of the special consideration request at time of data submission	19	Accepted values: • Accepted • Rejected • Pending • Withdrawn	^(Accepted|Rejected|Pending|Withdrawn)$
Rejection reason	Reason special consideration request was rejected if applicable	20	Accepted values: See appendix B. ‘Approved’ accepted for cases that were approved -2 accepted for cases that were pending or withdrawn	See appendix B
Evidence requested	To indicate if evidence was requested by the centre	21	Accepted values: • Y for yes • N for no	^(Y|N)$
Evidence received	To indicate if evidence was received by the awarding organisation	22	Accepted values: • Y for yes • N for no	^(Y|N)$

Validation rules

A data submission is only considered complete once it has successfully passed the validation rules.

If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it. A file may be successful but with warnings. Warnings will not cause failure in the validation process but will highlight entries which may need to be checked. You will receive an email with details of the warning in an attached “Data Validation Warnings Report”. If you receive this, please review the report and contact Ofqual Data Services should the data require any amendment.

The validation rules for this template check that each field is correctly formatted. The correct formatting of the fields are detailed in the ‘file format’ section. Failure to format the fields in line with the validation regular expression will result in unsuccessful validation. Additional validation rules are also in place for this template and may include cross-referencing with other templates. These validation rules along with whether they result in failure or a warning are detailed in the following table.

Validation rule	Result if not met
Exam Series values in scope of the return	Fail and rejected
All ReportingDate values match date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual)	Fail and rejected
Awarding Organisation is valid acronym in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
Centre No. is a valid reference number in the NCN register	Fail and rejected
Request identifier value not associated with multiple rows where Status is ‘accepted’	Pass with warning
QAN is a valid qualification number in Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
Specification codes must be consistent with those submitted in the Specification code data collection.	Fail and rejected
QAN matches Ofqual register	Fail and rejected
Where Special consideration type is “present but disadvantaged”, Specific disadvantage must not be “absent with good reason”	Fail and rejected
Where Special consideration type is “absent with good reason”, Tariff must be “-2”	Fail and rejected
Where Status is “withdrawn” or “pending”, Rejection reason must be “-2”	Fail and rejected

Appendix A: Accepted Values for Disadvantage Category Type fields

Disadvantage category	Specific disadvantage
Absent with good reason	Absent with good reason
Bereavement at the time of the exam	Death of a member of the extended family (grandparent aunt uncle or cousin) or close friend within 2 months of the exam Death of a member of the extended family (grandparent aunt uncle or cousin) or close friend within 3 months of the exam Death of a member of the extended family (grandparent aunt uncle or cousin) or close friend within 4 months of the exam Death of a member of the extended family (grandparent aunt uncle or cousin) or close friend within 6 months of the exam Death of a member of the extended family (grandparent aunt uncle or cousin) within 1 month of the exam Death of a member of the immediate family guardian or carer within 2 months of the exam Death of a member of the immediate family guardian or carer within 4 months of the exam Death of a member of the immediate family guardian or carer within 6 months of the exam Very recent death of a member of the extended family (grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin) or very close friend within 1 month of the exam Any other circumstance falling into this category and not listed above
Crisis/incident at the time of the exam	Anniversary of death of a member of the immediate family, guardian or carer Domestic inconvenience such as moving house Domestic inconvenience such as moving house lack of facilities at home Holidays or other family events which affect an exam Recent crisis/incident Recent more minor domestic crisis Serious and disruptive domestic crisis leading to acute anxiety about the family Serious crisis/incident at the time of an exam Serious domestic crisis at the time of an exam Serious illness of a member of the immediate family guardian or carer Terminal illness of a member of the immediate family guardian or carer Very serious and disruptive crisis/incident leading to acute anxiety Any other circumstance falling into this category and not listed above
Illness or injury at the time of the exam	Candidate became unwell during the exam and was unable to complete it Chronic fatigue syndrome or ME with consequences at the time of the exam Consequences arising from a permanent disability Consequences of major surgery near the time of the exam Flare up of severe long term condition such as epilepsy diabetes migraine or asthma Headache or other minor ailment Injury or trauma as a result of a severe road traffic accident or other accidental cause. (To be used additionally for a major incident) Learning difficulties or long term psychological conditions such as ADHD ASD or Asperger syndrome Long term physical or psychological illness affecting preparation or revision Medical complications arising from pregnancy Mild depression or other psychological disorder under treatment Minor injury or minor illness such as colds sore throats stomach upsets etc More serious viral illness such as flu tonsillitis severe stomach upsets etc Problems resulting from recently broken limbs fractures sprains or similar Recent and very serious physical or psychological illness Recent serious physical or psychological illness Recovering from but still affected by broken limbs fractures sprains or similar Recovering from surgery at the time of the exam Serious psychological trauma including consequences of rape or child abuse Serious viral illness such as glandular fever with continuing consequences at the time of the exam Severe hay fever or other allergic reaction on the day of an exam Severe incapacitating illness of the candidate or member of immediate family Stress anxiety or panic attack on the day of an exam with causes other than the exam itself Terminal illness of the candidate or of a parent guardian or carer Trauma resulting from recent physical assault Any other circumstance falling into this category and not listed above
Other causes of possible disadvantage	Accidental events such as being given the wrong exam paper Being given a defective paper or recording failure of equipment or failure of materials to arrive on time Consequences of building work or inadequate facilities Consequences of candidates not being fully prepared for an exam Consequences of having taken an exam at the wrong tier Consequences of staff shortages or teaching difficulties Delayed start arising from administrative problems or similar Excess fatigue during the last paper for a candidate taking more than 5 hours 30 minutes (GCSE, level 1 or 2 exams) or 6 hours (GCE, level 3 exams) in a single day Failure by the centre or awarding body to implement previously agreed access arrangements Minor accident immediately before the exam Minor upset arising from administrative problems such as insufficient time being allocated Recent traumatic experience Serious distress on the day of an exam Serious interruption or disturbance during an exam Serious interruption or disturbance during an examination or examination period (To include a national incident) Witnessing a very distressing event on the day of an exam Any other circumstances which may have disadvantaged the candidate but which are not listed

Appendix B: Accepted values for Rejection reason field

• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Approved
• Building work or inadequate facilities
• Domestic inconvenience
• Insufficient assessment completed
• Invalid reason
• Joining the class partway through
• Long term or permanent condition
• Minimum requirements not met
• Misreading the exam timetable
• Misreading the question paper
• No certification entry
• No components completed
• Personal arrangements
• Rejection reason not captured
• Teaching difficulties

Recent changes to this guidance

Date of change	Description of change
21/09/2026	Updated the document template and clarified aspects of the text. Changed validation for ‘Unique Candidate Identifier’ to accept 13 characters only (or -2) in line with the expectation for a valid UCI. Changed validation for ‘Centre No.’ field to accept 5 digits only and added validation rule for valid NCN.

Contacts

For all queries or feedback relating to the data collection process, amendments to data previously provided, or for general guidance, please contact:

Data services

Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Email data.services@ofqual.gov.uk