Guidance

TQ Central Learner Pipeline - Entries: guide to the data submission process

Published 19 March 2021

Applies to England

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 exams delivery data for regulated qualifications.

What data will be collected?

Central Learner Pipeline – Entries data will be collected for all Technical Qualifications (TQs) within T levels for learners in England.

When will data be collected?

Data will be collected according to the vocational and technical qualifications reporting schedule which is agreed and maintained by Ofqual’s data services team.

Updates to formats and guidance

This guidance document will be updated regularly. Any changes to procedure will be incorporated into the guidance document.

How to submit your data

Your data should be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the ‘Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data’ document on our web page to help you submit your files to us. If you need to ask us about a data submission please do contact the Data Services team.

Please do not send your data files via email to Data Services or to any other Ofqual email address, 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. These are detailed in the sections below. If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into our 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.

Amendments to data

Ofqual staff will not alter data once it has been submitted. If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify us by email. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.

How your data will be used

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities and, where required, to produce Official Statistics to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

General completion guidelines

Data should include entries made for all assessments to be taken within the reporting period

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	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression / Accepted values
ReportingDate	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	^(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d$ or ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits)
RegistrationDate	Date candidate registered for the TQ	2	^(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d$ or ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), adash, day (2 digits)
AwardingOrganisation	Acronym of the awarding organisation	3	^.{1,100}$	A valid AO Acronym. 1 to 100 characters accepted Note: value must be consistent within the file.
QualificationNumber	Unique identifier for the TQ as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications	4	^.{1,10}$	Valid Qualification Number. 1 to 10 characters accepted
QualificationTitle	Name of the TQ as it appears on the Portal and Register	5	^.{1,1000}$	1 to 1000 characters accepted
Route	Name of the TQ route	6	Accepted values as per pre-agreed list	Accepted values: Agriculture, environmental and animal care Business and administration Catering and hospitality Construction Creative and design Digital Education and childcare Engineering and manufacturing Hair and beauty Health and science Legal, financial and accounting
Pathway	Name of the TQ pathway	7		Accepted values: A valid TQ Pathway Note: pathway details can be found on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s website
ULN	Unique Learner Number	8	^.{0000000001, 9999999999}$	A numeric value between 0000000001 and 9999999999
UCI	Unique Candidate Identifier (JCQ code)	9	^.{1,13}$	Alpha-numeric 13 characters Note: enter -2 if not available
Forename	Candidate Forename	10	^.{0,150}$	0 to 150 characters
Surname	Candidate Surname	11	^.{0,150}$	0 to 150 characters
DateOfBirth	Candidate Date of Birth	12	^(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d$ or ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits)
Gender	Candidate Gender	13	^(M|F|-2)$	Accepted values: M, F Note: enter -2 for ‘other’ or if not known
UKPRN	UK Provider Reference Number	14	^.{10000000,99999999}$	A numeric value between 10000000 and 99999999
NCN	Centre ID – National Centre Number	15	^\d{1,5}$	Up to 5-digit integer Note: enter -2 if not available
AssessmentSeries	Assessment series data relates to, for example June 2023	16	^(June)([][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$	Full month name and year of Assessment series e.g. June 2023
ComponentCode	Unique identifier for the component (assigned by the awarding organisation)	17	^.{1,10}$	1 to 10 characters
SubComponentType	TQ sub-component To be used for entries at the sub-component level only (i.e., resits)	18	^(Core Exam|Core Project|Occupational Specialism|-2)$	Accepted Values: Core Exam Core Project Occupational Specialism Note: enter -2 for entries made at the component level
EntryDate	Date the entry was made (may differ from the registration date)	19	^(0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]) [/](0[1-9]|1[012])[/] (20)\d\d$ or ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: day (2 digits), forward slash, month (2 digits), forward slash, year (4 digits), or: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), adash, day (2 digits)

Contacts

For all queries 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