Qualification funding approval

Changes to funding approval principles and processes for 2025 to 2026

The changes we have made to our approval principles and process for the funding year 2025 to 2026.

Changes affecting all offers

Qualifications funding and approvals service tool (QFAST)

The qualifications funding and approvals service tool (QFAST) is a new digital platform designed to streamline the qualifications funding application and funding approvals process.

Register on QFAST now to ensure you’re ready for the 2025 to 2026 visit and to access the onboarding guide, which includes:

• a step-by-step walkthrough of the registration process
• a short video featuring your AI guide, Alex, who will help you navigate the platform
• guidance for organisations without a UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN)

We have added forms that will replace the forms listed at the end of this guide from September 2025

Availability of qualification specifications

As part of our consideration of funding approval we may want to consult the relevant qualification specification. As part of your manual or QFAST application you must include a working hyperlink to where you publish information about that qualification online.

The outcomes of the Review of level 3 qualifications reform were published on 12 December 2024.

Where qualifications have had funding retained, we have extended funding approval for these qualifications into 2025 to 2026 on the DfE List of qualifications approved for funding and Find a Learning Aim.

We have already written to you regarding any action you need to take.

If we are unable to access a specification for the qualification being considered, we may not approve it for funding.

Rollover: 2025 to 2026 offer into 2026 to 2027

‘Rollover’ is the process where we continue the current funded qualification offers into the next funding year.

The offers in scope of rollover into 2026 to 2027 are:

• 14-16
• 16-19
• ASF local flexibility
• ASF level 2/level 3 statutory entitlements
• ASF English and maths statutory entitlement
• ASF digital statutory entitlement
• Advanced Learner Loans (ALL)
• free courses for jobs

We will begin the process to extend the funding approval end date of these eligible and operational level 3 qualifications into 2026 to 2027 in November 2025.

Qualifications out of scope to be ‘rolled over’

Existing reformed level 3 and level 2 qualifications are already approved in their relevant offers until 31 July 2028. We will not extend these qualifications any further this year.

Existing level 4 to 6 qualifications are already approved in ALL until:

• 31 December 2026, or their operational end date if earlier, for qualifications not transferring to LLE funding
• 31 July 2028, or their operational end date if earlier, for qualifications transferring to LLE funding

We will not be extending these.

Due to the phasing in of LLE from 1 January 2027:

• all currently loans-funded qualifications on the zero-enrolments list will have their loans funding removed from 1 August 2025
• all other currently loans-funded qualifications are in scope to have their loans funding extended until 31 December 2026
• those qualifications that successfully transfer to LLE are in scope to have their loans funding approval extended until 31 July 2028, alongside their LLE funding approval from 1 January 2027

We wrote to inform you what action you need to take.

Rollover eligibility

Qualifications will only be extended into 2026 to 2027 if they still meet the funding approval criteria of each funded offer and are approved in operational.

Existing qualifications at level 3 and below will only be rolled over into 2026 to 2027 if they:

• are not in scope to have funding approval removed from 1 August 2026
• are already approved for funding in 2025 to 2026 until 31 July 2026
• have either:
  • an open-ended operational end date
  • an operational end date after 1 August 2026

After we have communicated the rollover process you will need to ensure that each criteria is met in time for you to make any necessary adjustments to qualifications you wish to rollover into 2026 to 2027.

Qualifications you wish to rollover into 2026 to 2027 need an operational end date that is open-ended, or set to after 1 August 2026, in Ofqual’s register of regulated qualifications by Monday 17 November, as we will take a download on Tuesday 18 November 2025.

Only qualifications with attributes such as operational end date will be eligible to be continued into 2026 to 2027.

We encourage you to use open-ended as operational end dates until you know you will be withdrawing a qualification.

If qualifications have an operational end date set earlier than 1 August 2026 when we take our download of the published version of Ofqual’s register of regulated qualifications on Tuesday 18 November 2025, we will not extend that qualification’s funding approval into the funding year 2026 to 2027.

Action you need to take for your qualifications to roll over into 2026 to 2027:

Ensure funding approval end dates in all current offers are set to 31 July 2026. To do this:

• if necessary, you will need to have this processed through our autumn funding approval window
• you will need to take all appropriate actions, for example extending or making open-ended operational end dates

Ensure operational end dates are open-ended or set after 1 August 2026. If your qualification’s funding approval end date is already set to 31 July 2026, you will need to make the appropriate changes in Ofqual’s register.

Funding approval end dates

During rollover into 2026 to 2027 we will change how funding approval end dates are presented on the List of Qualifications approved for funding and how these interact with the last date for new starts (LDNS) presented on find a learning aim (FaLA).

Many AOs do not use open-ended operational end dates (OEDs) or synchronise their specific OEDs with the end of the funding year.

This means that:

• OEDs extended in-year on the Ofqual Register are not picked up on the website until the next funding approval window
• a qualification can show on the website as no longer having funding approval but remain valid with a LDNS in the future on FaLA

How this will impact your providers

As FaLA updates LDNS fortnightly and is the website used by providers to check for funding information, FaLA will be the authoritative source for LDNS and all other funding information for your providers.

How this will impact awarding organisations

OED extensions:

• with the current funding year will show 2 to 4 weeks later on FaLA as a LDNS of the new OED

• into the next funding year will show 2 to 4 weeks later on FaLA as a LDNS of 31 July of the current funding year (the current maximum approval end date).

Extension into the next funding year will occur when we operate our annual ‘rollover’ process.

OED shortenings within:

• the current funding year, but still in the future, will show on FaLA 2 to 4 weeks later as a LDNS of the new OED, and the qualification will not be rolled over into the next funding year when this is processed

• the current year, but into the past, will show on FaLA 2 to 4 weeks later as a LDNS of the new OED but will also result in a hard stop being placed on the qualification on the QFAU website

This will be the new OED you have set and once this been processed and will not be reversed.

We may write to you before we process the hard-stop to check you are aware of the consequences of shortening the OED into the past. If the shortening is an error, we will not action the hard stop. However, we will remove this facility where errors occur more than 3 times in a year.

You will need to enter the correct OED on the Ofqual Register, and this will show on FaLA 2 to 4 weeks later as a LDNS of the new OED. If the OED shortening into the past was not an error we will action the hard stop and the qualification will not be eligible for rollover into the next funding year, even if extended by you into that year.

Open-ended OEDs

There is the facility on the Ofqual register to set OEDs as open-ended. We would ask that, where possible, you use these or synchronise your OEDs to the end of the funding year on 31 July.

Using open-ended OEDs and only setting a specific OED when you are sure you are withdrawing a qualification avoids the risk of a qualification inadvertently losing funding approval or providers uncertainty for your providers.

OEDs timing

OEDs that are set at the beginning of the funding year risk a qualification falling out of funding because the last opportunity for us to process the OED extension is in our Summer funding approval window. You would need to action this OED extension by the end of April. Unless processed, a qualification with an OED of 31 August will automatically become unapproved and unfunded on 1 September and remain so.

Errors impacting funding approval

You can write to us at Qualifications.APPROVAL@education.gov.uk if you have made an OED or other input error on the Ofqual Register that will take or has taken your qualification out of funding. If we are able, we will resolve this as soon as we can, but you may find there is a delay before your qualification shows as available for funding.

Other errors we encounter are found in the following Ofqual Register attributes, where the field is changed from ‘TRUE’ or ‘YES’:

• ‘pre-16’, ‘-18’, ‘18+’, ‘19+’ age group attributes – switching any age group attribute to ‘FALSE’ or ‘NO’ immediately removes the affected qualification from the relevant age-related funded offers

• ‘funded in England’ – switching this attribute to ‘FALSE’ or ‘NO’ immediately removes the affected qualification from all funded offers

• ‘offered in England’ – switching this attribute to ‘FALSE’ or ‘NO’ immediately removes the affected qualification from all funded offers

• qualification ‘level’ attribute – switching this attribute to ‘FALSE’ or ‘NO’ immediately removes the affected qualification from all level-related funded offers

We ask that you work to minimise these errors to ensure continued funding approval for your qualifications.

Future funding approval windows

This information applies to qualifications outside the scope of any integrated approvals process for reformed qualifications, under the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below.

We run funding approval processes on a termly basis.

Autumn: November 2025

The next funding approval window will be in November 2025. The deadline for receipt of funding approval applications for this cycle is 20 October 2025.

Qualifications approved for funding during this cycle will be approved until 31 July 2026, unless there is a reason to apply a shorter funding approval end date.

We will publish the outcomes of this process on our list of qualifications approved for funding website by 10 November 2025 and will update on DFE’s Find a learning aim before 30 November 2025.

In this funding approval window, we will not consider moratorium exemption type 3 and type 4 submissions for level 2 and level 3 qualifications in the SSAs announced in the 2023 to 2024 funding manual.

Subsequent funding approval windows are scheduled as follows:

Funding approval window	Deadline for receipt of applications etc	Date of Ofqual Register download
Spring: February 2026	16 February 2026	17 February 2026
Summer: June 2026	18 May 2026	19 May 2026
Autumn: November 2026	19 October 2026	20 October 2026

Please note this termly schedule may change as we roll out QFAST during 2025.

Urgent funding approval

In exceptional circumstances, you may need urgent funding approval for the next academic year after our summer funding approval process deadline has passed.

You can write to us and ask for urgent funding approval.

We will consider this on a case-by-case basis. This facility will have a high bar. We will only grant it in genuinely exceptional circumstances. We expect these to be extremely rare.

How we will review qualifications explains more on our expectations and how to apply.

Resetting of operational end dates

For 2025 to 2026 we will continue to monitor if an awarding organisation sets a qualification’s operational end date within the 2025 to 2026 funding year for rollover and then subsequently sets it back to be 31 July 2025 or earlier. We will consider ending funding approval for that qualification in all offers on this newest operational end date. If we do this, awarding organisations will have no further opportunity to extend funding approval for that qualification, and funding approval in the year 2025 to 2026 will be lost.

We will apply this principle to subsequent funding years.

Replacement qualifications

See funding approval end dates for end dates applied to existing qualifications you are replacing through post-16 moratorium exemption type 4.  We advise you not to set an operational end date for an existing qualification until we have confirmed that we have approved its replacement.

Changes affecting the post-16 level 3 and below moratorium

At levels 2 and 3 the SSAs remaining closed to both types of moratorium exemption applications are:

• child development and wellbeing
• digital technology
• direct learning support
• health and social care
• medicine and dentistry
• nursing and subjects and vocations allied to medicine
• science

See Post-16 funding approval moratorium and moratorium exemption for full details.

Qualifications Reform  has the latest updates on post-16 qualifications reform at level 3 and below.

Changes affecting the non-HTQ level 4 to 6 loans moratorium

We will consider approving new replacement qualifications for funding during the moratorium where they meet:

• the exemption criteria

• our funding approval principles

This exemption only applies to regulated non-HTQ qualifications at level 4 to 6 added to Ofqual’s Register of Regulated Qualifications on or after 1 April 2024.

We will only consider new qualifications that are like-for-like direct replacements for existing approved qualifications on a 1-in 1-out basis.

Funding approvals for qualifications approved as replacements loans moratorium exemption

If the current qualification being replaced has been confirmed as transferring to LLE, the replacement qualification will be approved:   

• in loans until 31 July 2028 or their operational end date if it is earlier

• in LLE from 1 January 2027 until 31 July 2028 or their operational end date if it is earlier

Qualifications approved during the moratorium to replace a qualification confirmed as not transferring to LLE will be approved:

• in loans until 31 July 2025 for qualifications on the zero-enrolments list

• in loans until 31 December 2026 or their operational end date if it is earlier

We set out the criteria to consider an exemption in the ‘Exemption to the moratorium for non-HTQ level 4 to level 6 qualifications’ section in Advanced learner loans: other approval criteria and in the ‘Stage 2: Identify qualifications for review: Identifying qualifications to consider as a loans moratorium’ section in How we will review qualifications.

Changes affecting specific offers

14 to 16 and 16 to 19

Individual academies can no longer apply in exceptional circumstances to offer a course leading to a qualification that is not approved for funding in the 14 to 16 and the 16 to 19 offers. This was previously shown in Annex D of earlier funding approval manuals.

In 2025 to 2026 we will only approve level 4 and above qualifications in the 16 to 19 offer at ‘18 plus only’.

Advanced learner loans

The moratorium on non-HTQ level 4 to level 6 qualifications entering the Advanced Learner Loans offer will continue to operate until further notice.

We have introduced an exemption to the loans’ moratorium. We set out the criteria for this in the ‘Exemption to the moratorium for non-HTQ level 4 to level 6 qualifications’ section in Advanced learner loans: other approval criteria and in the ‘Stage 2: Identify qualifications for review: Identifying qualifications to consider as a loans moratorium’ section in How we will review qualifications. 

Without an exemption only level 4 to 5 HTQs and level 3 qualifications can be added to the loans offer.

We will only approve level 4 to 5 HTQs in loans after:

• they have been recognised as an HTQ
• they have been designated for loans-only or dual higher education student finance and loans funding

You can no longer apply for loans funding approval for qualifications below 150 guided learning hours (15 credits). This is because:

• level 3 qualifications were not included in this exemption
• HTQs are not expected to be smaller than 150 guided learning hours (15 credits)

We will automatically approve level 4 to 5 HTQs where they meet loans criteria and have already been approved as HTQs by Skills England. We will identify level 4 to 5 HTQs through accessing updates to DfE’s internal operational list of approved Higher Technical Qualifications.

You do not need to make an application, but you can email Qualifications.APPROVAL@education.gov.uk and include:

• qualification number on the Ofqual Register
• full qualification title
• date from which the qualification is approved to be delivered as an HTQ
• the funding offer your qualification is designated for either ‘HESF and loans’ or ‘loans only’

We will only approve these qualifications during our termly funding approval processes.

All HTQs approved:

• before 17 February 2025 will be approved in our March funding approval process
• after 17 February 2025, but before 19 May 2025, will be approved in our June funding approval process
• after 19 May 2025, but before 20 October 2025, will be approved in our November 2025 funding approval process

We will write to you if we need you to do anything in this regard. Please note this termly schedule may change as we roll out our QFAST during 2025.

Due to the loans’ moratorium, we will only be able to approve HTQs in the loans offer from the start of the funding year in which the qualification is approved to be delivered by providers as an HTQ. For example, if an HTQ is approved to be delivered from September 2026, we will approve loans funding approval from 1 August 2026.

Free courses for jobs

Before you ask us to consider level 3 qualifications for the free courses for jobs offer, you must first gain funding approval for them in either:

• loans
• the level 3 statutory entitlement

Before you ask us to consider level 2 qualifications for the free courses for jobs offer, you must first gain funding approval in either:

• ASF DfE funded local flexibility offer
• the level 2 statutory entitlement

Strategic Authorities (SAs) that have devolved adult education functions in England and areas or authorities that are on the LA pathway to devolution pilot in England can also ask that we add a qualification to the national level 3 free courses for jobs offer.

These authorities should check if a qualification has been approved in an appropriate offer on our list of qualifications approved for funding website before submitting their request.

You can submit a request by completing the relevant form on QFAST before 5pm on:

• 30 April 2026 for outcomes communicated in July 2026
• 30 September 2026 for outcomes communicated in December 2026

Managing and monitoring reformed qualifications  

This section sets out how we will monitor and manage the following, once they are approved for funding: 

• alternative academic qualifications (AAQs) 

• technical occupation qualifications (TOQs)

Managing changes 

Once a qualification has been approved for funding, we may review the funding approval status of a qualification. 

This could be because of a change you identify. For example, if: 

• you update an existing qualification 

• there is a change to your scope of recognition 

It could also be because of a change we identify. For example, if: 

• new T Levels or T Level occupational specialisms are introduced 

• there is new evidence that means the qualification no longer meets the funding approval criteria 

• there is a change in policy 

• occupational standards have been revised, and you have not updated your qualification to reflect this

• a TOQ is no longer approved by Skills England as a technical qualification change

• you have failed to take account of Ofqual feedback provided as part of the approval process

We will review changes with the relevant organisations involved in this process where appropriate. 

Once a qualification is approved for funding, we reserve the right to remove funding approval if we have concerns about the qualification meeting the funding approval criteria, or we have evidence from third parties concerning the efficacy of the qualification or the organisation offering it.

Awarding organisation updates an approved qualification 

We understand that you may need to make changes to an approved qualification. In some cases that could impact funding approval.

Changes you do not need to tell us about 

You do not need to tell us about minor changes to the existing qualification. However, ensure you update Ofqual’s register of regulated qualifications, where this is appropriate. 

Minor changes that you do not need to tell us about are: 

• spelling or grammatical corrections in the qualification title or qualification materials 

• adding additional clarification to the qualification materials that does not change the meaning or interpretation of the qualification - for example, further exemplification of content that does not change the assessment or delivery

Changes you need to tell us about 

Some changes to an existing qualification will be more substantial as they change the meaning and interpretation or delivery of the qualification. These types of changes also may mean you need to develop a new qualification with a new qualification number.

Examples of such changes include but are not limited to: 

• changes to the qualification’s purpose 

• structural changes to the content being covered - for example, new topics added or removed from the specification 

• revisions to assessment strategy 

• changes that impact the mapping or alignment of the qualification and assessment materials to occupational standards 

• changes to the qualification title that are more than correcting typos or adding punctuation 

• changes to the number of assessments from that previously described in the specification 

• changes to the controls on assessment tasks 

• changes in grade scale 

• the qualification is no longer available for delivery in England 

• changes in guided learning hours or total qualification time 

• changes in sector subject area 

Where major changes occur, you must inform us of the changes made to the qualification through QFAST. This is so we can review the changes and ensure they do not impact funding approval. You must inform Skills England of any changes to TOQs.

Where there are changes to an assessment strategy for a qualification, you must also promptly notify Ofqual of the change in line with the relevant qualification-level conditions.

Ensure the information you provide about changes and the information about your qualification on Ofqual’s register is accurate.

Changes to your assessment strategy 

Ofqual requires awarding organisations to keep their assessment strategy under review. If the changes you make include a revision to your assessment strategy, you must promptly notify Ofqual. 

Further information is available in Ofqual’s level 3 alternative academic qualifications and technical occupation qualifications qualification level conditions.

Telling us about a change 

If you have changed your qualification and the change is not minor, you must inform us of the change at least four months before you intended to action the change (often the start of the next academic year).

You will need to inform us of the changes using QFAST. This information will then be shared with the relevant organisations as appropriate. 

We will review the information to assess whether your qualification continues to meet the funding approval criteria. This will be alongside any review of the change from any of the relevant organisations. You may be asked to provide further information or evidence supporting the change as part of this process.

Once we have received input from relevant partner organisation we will confirm any impact of the change on funding for your qualification.

Where we’re not content with a change you propose, you have the option to continue to deliver the qualification as originally approved or to withdraw the qualification.

Changes we will tell you about 

You may need to revise your qualification in response to changes that we notify you of. For example, if there are: 

• revisions to occupational standards 

• changes to T Levels 

These changes may mean we need to review the qualification’s approval, including funding approval status. We will inform you of the change and what action you need to take.

Changes that may impact funding 

Major changes to a qualification may also change the qualification’s sector subject area and guided learning hours. These changes may also impact the funding rate for qualifications funded through: 

• 30 April 2025 for outcomes communicated in July 2025

• 16 to 19 study programmes

• the adult skills fund 

• advanced learner loans

Awarding organisation withdraws a qualification 

Qualifications that are approved for funding from 1 August 2025 or 1 August 2026 currently remain showing as approved for funding up to 31 July 2028. If you withdraw a qualification before this date, we will use the operational end date that you set for the qualification on Ofqual’s Register of regulated qualifications to bring forward the funding approval end date . 

Where you withdraw a qualification and replace it with a new qualification and a new qualification number, you must submit the new qualification to be considered as part of the funding approval process.