Standardisation and awarding dates: guide to the data submission process
Updated 19 January 2026
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2026
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vtq-ptq-standardisation-and-awarding-dates/vtq-ptq-standardisation-and-awarding-dates-guide-to-the-data-submission-process
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?
Standardisation and awarding meeting dates for the following qualifications:
- GCSEs, AS and A levels
- Project Level 3
- VTQ level 1/2, level 2 and level 3 performance table qualifications (not including T-levels)
Data should relate only to vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) that are included in the Department for Education’s performance tables (PTQs) for the academic year being submitted. More specifically, these are: Technical Awards, Applied Generals, Technical Certificates and Technical Levels.
Timetabled assessments and NEAs should be included for GCSEs, AS and A levels and Project Level 3 qualifications.
Only timetabled assessments need to be included for VTQs; non-exam assessments (NEAs) do not need to be included.
Updates to formats and guidance
This guidance document will be updated regularly. Any changes to procedure will be incorporated into the guidance document.
When will data be collected?
Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is agreed and maintained by Ofqual’s data services team.
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 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.
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.
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
This data collection is for the pre-pre standardisation, pre-standardisation, standardisation and awarding dates for the qualifications in scope defined above.
Pre-pre standardisation is a preliminary meeting that takes place before the pre-standardisation meeting. It involves senior examiners, including the principal examiner and assistant principal examiners, who review student responses and may make adjustments to the mark scheme. The purpose is to analyse sample scripts and identify areas for improvement or clarification in the mark scheme.
Pre-standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) that take place between principal examiners/moderators and team leaders to discuss understanding and application of the mark scheme (including to both external and internal assessment), for example, when marking and standardisation by examiners takes place electronically and is therefore not observable.
Standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where teams leaders discuss application and understanding of the mark scheme with examiners/moderators (including to both external and internal assessment).
Awarding refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where grade boundaries are discussed and determined using a variety of evidence.
If there are no timetabled assessments (or NEAs for GCSE, AS and A level and Project Level 3 qualifications) in a particular series, please submit a nil return.
NEAs do not need to be included for VTQs; only submit dates relating to timetabled assessments. Both timetabled assessments and NEAs should be included for GCSEs, AS and A levels, and Project Level 3 qualifications.
Start and end dates for the overall awards for the qualification can be provided in the AwardingStartDate and AwardingEndDate fields. We do not necessarily need specific award dates for each individual component.
Column headers must be an exact match.
| Name | Description | Position | Validation Regular Expression | Description of Regular Expression / Accepted values |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ReportingDate | Date the file was due to be submitted regardless of when it was actually uploaded. This date to be provided by Ofqual. Format accepted 120 ODBC canonical yyyy-mm-dd |
A | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits) |
| ExamSeries | The series the assessment is taking place in. For GCSE, AS, A level, and Project Level 3 qualifications, use “Summer” for the June series, “Autumn” for the November series, and “Winter” for the January series |
B | ^(Autumn|Winter|Spring|Summer)([ ][0-9][0-9][0-9][0-9])$ |
Exam series and year. For example, “Winter 2024”, “Spring 2025”, “Summer 2025”, “Autumn 2025” |
| AwardingOrganisation | Awarding organisation acronym | C | ^.{1,100}$ |
1 to 100 characters accepted |
| QualificationNumber | Qualification Number, as recorded in the Register, for example, 123/1234/1 | D | ^.{1,10}$ |
1 to 10 characters accepted |
| SpecificationCode | Specification code, also known as Subject Award Code and Cash-in Code. Only required for GCSEs, AS and A levels, and Project L3 qualifications. For VTQs, submit -2 |
E | ^.{1,7}$ |
One to 7 characters accepted. -2 accepted for VTQ performance table qualifications |
| QualificationUnitTitle | The AOs title of the individual unit | F | ^.{1,255}$ |
1 to 255 characters accepted |
| QualificationUnitCode | The AOs code of the individual unit | G | ^.{1,25}$ |
1 to 25 characters accepted |
| AssessmentType | Internally or externally assessed | H | ^(Internal|External)$ |
Accepted values: * Internal * External |
| AssessmentMethod | The method used in the assessment | I | ^(Written exam|Task-based project|Written exam window)$ |
Accepted values: * Written exam * Task-based project * Written exam window |
| Pre-Pre-Standardisation | Pre-pre standardisation is a preliminary meeting that takes place before the pre-standardisation meeting. It involves senior examiners, including the principal examiner and assistant principal examiners, who review student responses and may make adjustments to the mark scheme. The purpose is to analyse sample scripts and identify areas for improvement or clarification in the mark scheme. Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place. No (N) meeting is not taking place |
J | ^(Y|N)$ |
Accepted values: * Y * N |
| Pre-Pre-StandardisationFormat | Pre-pre standardisation Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other | K | ^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$ |
Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Pre-Pre-StandardisationStartDate | First date the meeting(s) for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18 | L | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Pre-Pre-StandardisationEndDate | Final date the meeting(s) for this unit takes place (can be the same as start date), for example, 2025-02-18 | M | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Pre-Standardisation | Pre-standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) that take place between principal examiners and team leaders to discuss understanding and application of the mark scheme (including to both external and internal assessment), for example, when marking and standardisation by examiners takes place electronically and is therefore not observable. Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place. No (N) meeting is not taking place |
N | ^(Y|N)$ |
Accepted values: * Y * N |
| Pre-StandardisationFormat | Pre-Standardisation Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other | O | ^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$ |
Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Pre-StandardisationStartDate | First date the meeting(s) for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18 | P | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Pre-StandardisationEndDate | Date for the final meeting for this unit (can be the same as start date), for example, 2025-02-18 | Q | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Standardisation | Standardisation refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where teams leaders discuss application and understanding of the mark scheme with examiners/moderators (including to both external and internal assessment). Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place No (N) meeting is not taking place |
R | ^(Y|N)$ |
Accepted values: * Y * N |
| StandardisationFormat | Standardisation Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other | S | ^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$ |
Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| StandardisationStartDate | Date the first meeting for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18 | T | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| StandardisationEndDate | Date for the final meeting for this unit (can be the same as start date), for example, 2025-02-18 | U | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| Awarding | Awarding refers to observable meetings (remote or face to face) where grade boundaries are discussed and determined using a variety of evidence. Yes (Y) a meeting is taking place No (N) meeting is not taking place |
V | ^(Y|N)$ |
Accepted values: * Y * N |
| AwardingFormat | Awarding Format refers to meeting face to face, remote (for example, Teams), hybrid (for example, both in person and remote) or other | W | ^(Remote|Face-to-face|Hybrid|Other|-2)$ |
Accepted values: * Remote * Face to face * Hybrid * Other If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| AwardingStartDate | Date the first meeting for this unit takes place, for example, 2025-02-18 | X | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| AwardingEndDate | Date for the final meeting for this unit (can be the same as start date), for example, 2025-02-18 | Y | ^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01]|-2)$ |
The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits). If this meeting is not taking place then -2 is acceptable |
| AdditionalInformation | Any useful or pertinent additional information (optional) | Z | ^.{0,255}$ |
Up to 255 characters |
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