Guidance

Develop an end-point assessment plan

How to develop an end-point assessment plan for a new apprenticeship.

• From: Skills England
• Published: 2 June 2025

Applies to England

Policy Update: In February 2025, the Government announced reforms to apprenticeship assessment and published a new set of assessment principles. This guidance will be updated by 1 August 2025 to incorporate these new principles.

You must have your occupational proposal agreed by Skills England before you can develop an end-point assessment (EPA) plan. You can find out how to develop an occupational proposal.

If you are developing an EPA plan as part of an apprenticeship, you will also need to develop the occupational standard and collect evidence for your funding band allocation.

All apprentices must take an independent assessment at the end of their training to confirm that they have achieved occupational competence, this is the EPA. A rigorous, robust and independent EPA is essential to give employers confidence that apprentices completing an apprenticeship standard can actually perform in the occupation they have been trained in and can demonstrate the duties, and knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs) set out in the occupational standard.

The EPA can take a wide range of forms. It can include assessment methods such as an observation in the workplace, practical and written tests and interviews. It should typically include two distinct assessment methods or one method plus an integrated qualification.

An employer decides to put an apprentice forward for EPA once they are confident that their apprentice is ready and that they have completed the minimum time period for their apprenticeship. The employer may, at their discretion, consult with the apprentice and training providers. The EPA should be delivered by an independent third party, who has not been involved in the training or employment of the apprentice and has no other conflict of interest.

You need to set out the requirements for assessment of occupational competence in an EPA plan. When we have approved the EPA plan, it is published on our website and end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) will use it to develop assessment tools and deliver the assessment.

Your EPA plan needs to be written clearly and be comprehensive enough to enable different EPAOs to consistently design assessment tools that are valid, reliable, comparable, manageable, affordable and accessible. This is important as it ensures that all apprentices are judged robustly and fairly to the same level and against the same criteria, no matter which organisation delivers the actual EPA. EPAOs are required to deliver the EPA as it is set out in the EPA plan. 

The Department for Education (DfE) will not fund apprentices to start on a new or revised apprenticeships until an EPAO has been appointed by the external quality assurance provider (EQAP). To support this, you need to engage with potential EPAOs early in the apprenticeship standard development process.  

You need to submit your EPA plan through the apprenticeship builder. The information you have already entered for the occupation proposal and occupational standard will be saved. Your product manager can help you with this.

End-point assessment requirements

Deliver valid and accurate judgements of occupational competence

The assessment methods must be fit for purpose and appropriate to the content of the occupational profile. They must test whether the apprentice is occupationally competent and must not test things that are not relevant to the KSBs. You must include a mixture of valid assessment methods with at least one method that tests a combination of KSBs (this is called synoptic assessment).

We will assess this by:

• evaluating the assessment methods proposed against the occupational profile, duties and KSBs to determine if the assessment methods test whether full occupational competence has been reached
• checking if there is sufficient information in the EPA plan for the EPAOs to develop and deliver valid assessment tools

Produce consistent and reliable judgements

The assessment methodology and tools used must ensure that employers can have confidence that apprentices assessed in different places, at different times and by different assessors have been judged in the same way and have reached the same standard of occupational competence.

We will assess this by:

• checking that the assessment methodology and tools required will optimally assess the stated KSBs and contribute efficiently to judgements about the apprentice’s occupational competence
• checking that the description of assessment methods contains enough detail for different EPAOs to develop and deliver comparable assessment in different places and times

Ensure independence

The organisation delivering the assessment and the individual assessors making assessment decisions must ensure independence. For integrated degree apprenticeships the organisation does not have to be independent but the individual assessor must be.

We will assess this by checking that the EPA plan clearly sets out how independence will be ensured for both the organisation and individual assessors.

Grading

Apprenticeships should be graded using at least one level, for example, merit or distinction, above pass for the EPA as a whole.

We will assess this by confirming that:

• the EPA plan includes at least one grade above pass and that these are appropriately described, clearly showing what an apprentice would need to do to achieve each grade
• the outcomes of assessment methods are graded sufficiently to ensure the EPA can be graded appropriately
• a grading exemption has been granted where appropriate
• the grading descriptors are appropriate and can be interpreted consistently

Feasibility, manageability, and affordability

The EPA plan must demonstrate feasibility, manageability and affordability within the constraints of funding policy.

We will assess this by:

• using our experience of other EPA plans to check whether the assessments can be practically delivered within the defined constraints and to the specified scale at reasonable cost
• considering value for money for each assessment method and the EPA as a whole
• considering both cost of developing and delivering the tools for each assessment method
• considering how the methods may be delivered as effectively as possible to minimise costs caused by the EPA extending over more than one day

Enabling reasonable adjustments

The EPA plan should enable EPAOs to make reasonable adjustments for conducting an EPA in compliance with equality legislation.

We will assess this by checking that none of the assessment methods proposed make it impossible to make reasonable adjustments.

Transparency and accountability

We will also ensure the EPA plan is organisation neutral, meaning that it must not name any specific training provider or EPAO. Organisations can be named when they are referred to in their capacity as a professional body regulator, but not if they are being referred to as an EPAO. Organisations should only be named in the EPA plan where they are also included within the occupational standard.

If you reference other documents, for example regulatory frameworks, you must ensure the EPA plan contains the document’s title and full internet address. Any referenced documents need to be freely available from the date on which the EPA plan is published.

The EPA plan should be a self-contained document.

How develop your EPA plan

Each EPA plan needs to be individually designed and appropriate for the occupation. 

You may want to consult widely on the EPA plan to give employers and other relevant organisations who have not been directly involved in your trailblazer group an opportunity to input. You will need to consult EPAOs who can advise on the suitability, manageability and affordability of your proposed EPA. You will need to leave some time to reflect on any comments you receive and build in any changes you then want to make to your EPA plan.

Your product manager can lead a workshop to help you develop your EPA Plan.

EPA gateway

The gateway refers to the requirements that need to be met for the employer to put forward their apprentice for an EPA. It ensures that all apprentices have completed the mandatory aspects of the occupational standard and any work needed for specified assessment methods.

The EPA takes place when all the on-programme training has been completed and after the gateway has been passed. It should only start once the employer is confident that the apprentice is occupationally competent. That means that they are deemed to be working at or above the level set out in the occupational standard and ready for the EPA. The employer may seek input from the apprentice’s training provider in making this decision, but the decision must ultimately rest with the employer.

The EPA plan must set out any gateway requirements to be completed or achieved before an apprentice can undertake an EPA. This section of your EPA plan must include:

• minimum English and maths requirements
• details of any requirements or outputs for an assessment method, for example a portfolio or presentation
• confirmation that the employer is confident that the apprentice is working at or above the level set out in the occupational standard, and is ready to undertake the EPA

The EPA plan must only mandate or reference the exact qualifications that have been agreed for inclusion within the occupational standard. It must not include content that is not included in the occupational standard. Where a qualification is mandated, at least one of the mandated qualification assessments should be integrated into the EPA.

Work completed prior to the gateway can be used to support an assessment method but cannot be an assessment method in its own right. This could include logbooks, portfolios or projects that are completed during the apprenticeship.

Assessment methods

This section of the EPA plan should set out the assessment methods which will be used to assess the apprentice with sufficient detail to ensure that all apprentices are tested using the same assessment methods in a consistent and comparable way.

In the EPA plan you need to provide a rationale as to why you have selected each of the assessment methods. It is important here that you consider how valid the assessment methods are in relation to the occupational role.

Typically, an EPA plan should include two different valid assessment methods. At least one of these methods must assess some knowledge, some skills and some behaviours included in the occupational standard.

You should aim for a mix of assessment methods that will deliver the most valid assessment of an apprentice’s occupational competence across the occupational standard, with each assessment method assessing a distinct sub-set of KSBs.

When developing the plan each KSB is mapped to an assessment method. This is to ensure it is assessable and to help in the production of grading descriptors. Although all KSBs are mapped to an assessment method this does not mean that all KSBs will be directly assessed. For example, when a skill is directly assessed the understanding of the underpinning knowledge is implied and therefore indirectly assessed. Each KSB is only assessed by one method, unless there is a strong rationale to test it in more than one method such as any that are considered risk critical. 

The assessment methods section of the EPA plan should describe how you want each assessment method to be delivered and the parameters which EPAOs must follow when they develop and deliver assessment. For example, parameters include setting out how long apprentices will be given to undertake tasks, or the minimum number of questions they will be asked in an interview. This will help ensure that all apprentices undertake comparable EPA. Giving parameters to assessment methods is important as otherwise some apprentices could be given unfair advantages, face additional assessment burdens or be measured against a different standard of competence. The apprenticeship builder will ask for the key assessment method parameters when this section of the EPA plan is being written.

You should consider if the assessment methods require anything to be agreed or produced before the EPA period. For example, agreement of project title and scope or the collation of material for a portfolio, and who is responsible for the agreement. These will become gateway requirements.

EPAs should be delivered as soon as possible after the end of the learning period.

Different assessment methods 

You can use a range of assessment methods to assess the KSBs in the occupational standards.

Assessment methods include:

• observation: the assessor will observe how the apprentice undertakes one or more duties in the workplace and sometimes ask the apprentice questions during and after the observation, this can be supplemented by questioning during or after the demonstration
• practical demonstration: an assessment of skills and sometimes knowledge and behaviours that takes place in a practical skills facility such as a simulated work area in an assessment centre or a skills development facility, this can be supplemented by questioning during or after the demonstration
• tests: an assessment taken under controlled and invigilated conditions, on paper or on a computer, where types of questions used may vary, for example multiple-choice or open answers
• projects: a defined piece of work undertaken after the gateway to demonstrate a particular aspect of the occupation which is marked in its own right or used to inform a presentation or discussion - they should have a business benefit and include the production of veritable and assessable work outputs
• presentation: the apprentice making a presentation to an individual independent assessor, often followed by questioning from the independent assessor

The assessment could also be discussion-based. This could take the form of an interview, a professional discussion or viva, which is an in-depth, two-way discussion between an independent assessor and apprentice to assess theoretical or technical knowledge.

Questioning and answering (where short, focussed questions are asked in support of another assessment method such as observation or presentation) would also be classed as being discussion-based assessment. Professional discussions should only be used instead of interviews if the apprentice would normally be expected to discuss their work and how they approach it. This is more likely in higher-level apprenticeships.

An interview is more appropriate where the EPA needs to check understanding of how to operate in the occupation. It is probably more appropriate for lower-level occupations. 

A portfolio of work completed either before or after the gateway, cannot be used as an assessment method in its own right. However, it can be used as the basis for an assessment method. For example, an interview that draws on evidence contained in a portfolio will be assessed as part of the EPA rather than the portfolio. In this scenario, the portfolio can be collected at any point during the apprenticeship. Where the portfolio needs to be compiled during the on-programme phase (pre-gateway), it must be detailed as a gateway requirement (against the assessment method it will support) to ensure that all apprentices complete it.

Direct evidence of occupational competence is the most robust, independent source of information available to an independent assessor. Appraisals from peers and managers cannot be used as an assessment method because they do not represent the opinion of the independent assessor. However, they could be used as part of a portfolio. Self-reflective accounts should not be used as part of any assessment method or within any submitted element which underpins the EPA unless specifically mentioned in the KSBs.

An assessment method can combine one or more assessment components to strengthen it. For example, a practical test combined with a follow-up question and answer session will allow the apprentice to demonstrate the KSBs to greater depth. Similarly, a project could be supplemented by a presentation and questioning. Where more than one assessment component is combined to test the same set of KSBs, it only represents one assessment method.

Choosing assessment methods

To identify the best assessment methods, consider which assessment methods are reflective of how the occupation is conducted. In many cases, an observation in the workplace will be the most valid means of assessing whether an apprentice is occupationally competent, and this should ideally form part of your EPA.

The high validity of the observation assessment method means it should be the first assessment method that you consider. However, there will be some occupations where this is not the case, either because the skills are not explicitly observable or because the work takes place over a longer timeframe than it would be feasible to observe. In these instances, you should consider using a simulated work environment instead, if it is affordable and offers good value for money, and finally alternative assessment methods.

When choosing the mix of assessment methods, you should:

• ensure the assessment methods are as relevant to the occupation as possible, for example long, written pieces of prose would not be a very valid way of assessing an apprentice who does not produce such types of work in their occupation
• consider the suitability of different assessment methods for assessing the KSBs it is targeting, selecting the assessment methods that best demonstrate occupational competence (usually this will be a workplace observation)
• check the level of the apprenticeship and the appropriateness of the types of assessment used and their extent, for example whether to use an interview rather than a professional discussion, length of observations, word limits
• ensure the assessment methods are discrete from one another, assessing an identified set of KSBs - one assessment method should not be used to allow an apprentice to compensate for poor demonstration of certain KSBs in a previous assessment method, as this will lead to inconsistencies within and between EPAs
• be aware that the EPA does not need to directly assess all KSBs - for example, when a skill is directly assessed, understanding of the underpinning knowledge is implied and therefore indirectly assessed
• check that the chosen assessment methods do not overlap in their coverage of KSBs to avoid placing a greater proportional weighting on certain KSBs which may not be desirable and creating assessment methods that cannot be applied with full consistency 
• ensure any particularly important KSBs that require assessment in more than one method, for example, health and safety compliance, appear in more than one grading descriptor with each grading descriptor tailored to that assessment method
• consider if an individual assessment method can be made up of two or more complementary components to make that assessment method more robust and to cover KSBs in a more expedient way, for example, an observation followed by questioning specifically about the tasks undertaken during the observation
• ensure your assessment methods are distinct and not be overly reliant on one form of delivery, for example, all orally based, as this could disadvantage some apprentices
• ensure the EPA plan for core and options standards uses the same assessment methods and approach to grading across all the options

Delivery

An important consideration throughout the EPA plan should be the feasibility of an EPAO being able to implement and deliver EPA activity.

Location

You should consider whether the EPA could be conducted in the workplace or at an assessment centre. The most valid observations will occur in the apprentice’s workplace but this may not always be possible. You will need to think about:

• feasibility
• the appropriateness and safety of conducting observations in all workplaces that apprentices may work in
• whether test centres will be readily available across the country
• apprentices with access requirements

Use of technology

You should also consider the use of technology. Online tests, video conferencing and e-portfolios can all be very effective and reduce the time and cost involved. You also need to think about practicality and accessibility to ensure that assessment methods are equally accessible to large and small employers and apprentices with access requirements. For example, offering an online alternative to a paper test could improve accessibility or allow EPAs to occur in a location that has been adapted for an apprentice’s needs.

Scheduling

Where there is no mandated qualification forming part of the EPA, you should specify that the assessment methods can be undertaken in a flexible order to enable EPAO scheduling, unless there is a strong rationale for doing otherwise.

Methods and requirements

You need to think about cost when you are choosing the number and type of assessment methods and setting the requirements. For example, multiple-choice tests tend to be more efficient to deliver as they can be marked cheaply compared to open answer questions, although they have relatively high set-up costs and require appropriate apprentice numbers to make this viable for an EPAO. On the other hand, more open test questions may allow assessment of higher-level knowledge or skills in more depth.

You should also consider the associated activities in delivering EPA. For example, the time an assessor spends preparing to deliver the EPA, marking, the costs of standardisation and moderation.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

If artificial intelligent (AI) has been used as part of the apprentice’s day-to-day work and forms part of a project report, presentation, or artefact, it should be referenced as such within the work.

If AI has been used as part of a portfolio that underpins an interview or professional discussion or any other assessment method, it should be fully referenced within the portfolio.

AI must not be used to produce the report or portfolio. The EPA must be carried out in accordance with the EPA plan and any project reports, presentations or artefacts must be the apprentice’s own work.

Grading

This section of the plan must set out how grades for individual assessment methods will be awarded and how those grades are combined to determine the overall apprenticeship standard grade.

Apprenticeship standards should have at least one grade above a pass, to recognise exceptional performance across the occupational standard. As pass must represent occupational competence in the occupation, with higher grades representing greater proficiency in the KSBs in the occupational standard. You must use the grading terminology:

• fail
• pass
• merit
• distinction

Apprentices must pass each assessment method of their EPA in order to achieve an overall pass grade. For example, in an EPA that has an observation and test, apprentices must pass both of these methods in order to achieve an overall pass grade in their apprenticeship. A fail in any one assessment method will result in an overall fail grade in their apprenticeship standard.

We would normally expect all individual assessment methods to have a grades available above pass. However, the absolute minimum is that at least one individual assessment method must be graded above a pass.

If only one assessment method is graded above a pass, it must be the synoptic assessment method - the one that assesses some knowledge, skills and behaviours. In an EPA with a synoptic project and test, the project could be graded fail, pass, distinction, with the test only graded fail, pass. In this example, performance in the project alone would determine whether an apprenticeship standard distinction is awarded.

You should be prepared to change your grading if the chosen assessment methods do not distinguish sufficiently between apprentices being able to show meaningful progression between these grades.

For each individual assessment method, you must include clear grading descriptors in your EPA plan. These set out what is required of an apprentice to achieve each assessment method grade that you specify, including fail where necessary. When setting out the grading descriptors, you should check that they are sufficiently detailed to ensure consistent interpretation and avoid using subjective words open to interpretation, such as excellent or in-depth without examples of what they mean. Grade descriptors are not required to be included for multiple choice question test methods.

In core and option apprenticeship standards, each option will require its own grading descriptors for each assessment method. This is to reflect the fact that apprentices in different options, will demonstrate core KSBs and option KSBs in accordance with their option’s occupation. For example, equine grooms will all need to have KSBs related to working with horses, but apprentices working in different settings (options) will demonstrate these quite differently. Assessment methods that are related to core KSBs, which are not affected by the occupational option, can be used for apprentices working in different options. 

You should group the duties and KSBs that you would like to be tested by each assessment method into themes. These are subjects or areas of linked KSBs to be assessed. For each theme identify what must be demonstrated by the apprentice in that assessment method to show they are occupationally competent (specifically, state what meeting particular themes will look like in reality).  

For the next grade above a pass (merit or distinction), determine what the apprentice will need to demonstrate for each theme in each assessment method to demonstrate they are working at a higher level of competence than those working at pass grade. You must not introduce new duties or KSBs to the themes, these should all be present in the pass grade. You can read the grading descriptor for this grade against that for the pass grade to determine that they are covering the same area of the occupation but require an apprentice to demonstrate a clear difference in quality of performance.

If you are using a second grade above a pass, for example a distinction, repeat the approach but consider this grading descriptor against the previous two grading descriptors.

It is not essential for KSBs to contribute to each merit and distinction descriptors attached to an assessment method. There can be certain KSBs that can only be classed at a pass level. When approaching the design of merit and distinction descriptors it can be beneficial to reflect upon the specific aspects of the KSBs assigned to a theme, where excellent staff members show a higher level of performance within the occupational role when compared to others who would be classed as competent but not outstanding.

You must include a fail grade descriptor. It may be as simple as stating the pass descriptor has not been reached.  

You may stipulate a pass mark for each grade. EPAOs will have to ensure that this pass mark represents occupational competence as described in the pass grade descriptor. It is vital therefore that the pass grade descriptor clearly sets out what needs to be demonstrated to confirm full occupational competence.

Weighting

We recommend that assessment methods have equal weighting to enable a simple process of grading of the whole EPA. However, you may have a specific rationale for wanting weighting to be applied across different methods. If this is the case, you should think carefully about how this will work in practice and avoid any unintended consequences whereby an apprentice’s overall grade could be skewed by doing particularly well, or badly, in one assessment method.

Applying different weighting to assessment methods can make the grading of the whole EPA complicated, so consider how to keep weighting simple and easy to apply by different EPAOs.

Overall EPA grade

The grades from each assessment method must be aggregated to obtain an apprentice’s overall EPA grade. Where all of the individual assessment methods do not have a grade above pass, you must still aggregate the grades together to obtain grades for the overall EPA, which must include a grade above pass.

Apprentices must pass each assessment method of the EPA to achieve a pass overall. You must clearly specify how each possible combination of assessment grades translates into an overall EPA grade.

Grading exemptions

If you do not think grading is appropriate in your occupation and cannot grade the entire EPA or at least the synoptic assessment method within it beyond pass or fail, you will need to submit a grading exemption request. Your request must be supported by written evidence, including links to the relevant legislation, confirming that assessments are aligned with a regulation (for example, health and safety requirements) or a licence to practise.

There is no guarantee that a grading exemption request will be granted. Each exemption will only apply to that particular apprenticeship standard and will be reviewed against the criteria at the time when the apprenticeship standard is reviewed or revised. You should request a grading exemptions when you submit your EPA plan for approval.

When reviewing these requests, Skills England will consider:

• whether a binary grading system is already in place within this occupation, for example a competent or not competent decision for existing assessments
• whether a grading exemption applies to all existing entry points in this occupation, for example existing approved qualifications for the occupation are not graded beyond a pass
• whether the apprenticeship fully aligns with the regulator’s requirements to practise in the occupation

Resits and retakes

This section of the plan sets out the policy that will apply to apprentices who fail all or part of their EPA to ensure that they have equal opportunity to retake or resit some or all of the assessment.    

A re-take involves a need for further learning before an assessment is taken, while a re-sit does not. You should outline any resit or retake requirements you have in the EPA plan, covering the EPA as a whole, as well as its parts. 

Apprentices who achieve a pass grade cannot resit or retake the EPA to achieve a higher grade. However, beyond this, you can stipulate conditions for resits or retakes as long as they are fair and justified.

For apprentices who do not pass first time, you should consider whether it is appropriate to cap an apprentice’s grade at pass where they are resitting or retaking an assessment.

Apprentices whose resits or retakes are due to failing the EPA because of extenuating circumstances (for example, illness) should have all grades available to them.

An apprentice’s employer decides how many attempts an apprentice may have to pass an EPA.

Roles and responsibilities

The EPA should be an independent assessment of an apprentice’s competence. The decision on whether an apprentice has passed their EPA and what their final grade should be, must be taken by someone who has no vested interest in this decision or relationship to the apprentice. This will ensure that all apprentices are treated fairly and helps to maintain trust in the robustness of the EPA system.

EPA must be conducted by an independent EPAO. EPAOs will employ independent assessors. Your EPA plan must detail the knowledge, skills and experience that you expect independent assessors to have, within the internal quality assurance section. This information will play a key factor within the recruitment and selection of independent assessors by EPAOs. Although it is important that these requirements are robust, they should not have the effect of limiting the market to a specific EPAO or making delivery of the EPA practically unfeasible.

An assessor must be independent and will make the final grading decisions, subject to moderation by the EPAO. Your EPA must be designed so that no organisation or individual connected to the apprentice, or who has been involved in the management or training of the apprentice, can be their assessor. An independent assessor must not be employed by the same organisation as the apprentice or by their training provider. The approach you describe in your EPA plan must clearly deliver an impartial result. You must clearly describe how independence will be achieved for all employers, regardless of their size.

Invigilators

As a minimum, the invigilator must: 

• attend induction training as directed by the EPAO 
• not invigilate an assessment, solely, if they have delivered the assessed content to the apprentice
• invigilate and supervise the apprentice during tests and in breaks during assessment methods to prevent malpractice in line with the EPAOs invigilation procedures 

Assessing degree apprenticeships

For degree apprenticeships that follow an integrated approach, the university or higher education provider delivering the degree will typically be the EPAO.

The EPA must still deliver an impartial result and all the assessors must be independent of the apprentice and their employer, drawn from the occupation and outside of the EPAO, for example, a professional body or another employer. 

The role of employers

Employers have an important role in assessing competency and they have a key responsibility at the gateway in signing off the apprentice as ready to undertake EPA. However, it is not appropriate for employers to be directly involved in EPA assessment methods because they are not independent.  

Where a work-based project forms part of the EPA, it may be appropriate for the employer to be involved in agreeing the scope of this project to ensure that it adds value to the business. However, the EPAO would also need to agree the scope of the project to ensure that it is comparable to other projects and meets all the requirements of EPA for the apprenticeship standard. You should consider the scale of the apprenticeship and whether it would be better for the EPAO to produce project specifications that employers can then use to devise projects that meet EPA requirements, rather than the EPAO signing-off each individual project.

The role of professional bodies

There may be a small number of situations where only one body is able to award professional status. For example, if they have a legal responsibility or act as the regulator for that profession or there is some other statutory requirement as is case for the role of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency in the case of able seafarer occupations. In these cases, it may be possible for this body to be named in the EPA plan.  

If the EPA needs to be conducted by someone who has an appropriate level of professional registration from a relevant professional body, you should make these requirements clear in the EPA plan. You will need to provide a letter of support from the professional body confirming that this is necessary for professional registration alignment.

EPAO internal quality assurance

This section of the plan sets out the measures an EPAO should take to quality assure their delivery of EPA and ensures that all organisations providing EPA across an apprenticeship standard have the same quality assurance measures in place.

Each EPA plan must set out the measures for internal quality assurance that each EPAO will need to undertake to ensure quality and consistency. This must include assessor experience, qualifications, training and checks.

The internal quality assurance (IQA) is carried out by the EPAO. It involves making sure that it is undertaking individual assessments correctly and is assuring others, including funding bodies and employers, that it is effectively delivering, standardising, marking and reporting the outcome of the assessments properly.

Robust IQA measures to ensure the EPA is applied consistently must include:

• describing essential occupational and assessment knowledge, skills and experience you would expect an assessor to have and any continued professional development requirements
• describing the requirement for providing induction training for independent assessors on a specific apprenticeship standard prior to them delivering any assessment
• giving the minimum frequency at which assessors should meet to standardise assessment practices within their individual end-point assessment organisations – we recommend a minimum of annual attendance
• specifying the tools, materials or techniques to be used in the assessment
• ensuring that EPAOs implement quality assurance processes for benchmarking performance, moderating assessments and reviewing standards over time and across different locations

Published 2 June 2025