V Cert assessment support | NCFE

What can we help you find?

Replacement certificates - learners
Replacement certificates - centres

V Cert assessment support

On this page, you’ll find reminders of everything we have in place to support you and your learners throughout V Cert assessments. Please ensure to share this with your colleagues, especially your exams contacts.

[Updated on 30 April 2026]

Next steps for the non-exam assessment (NEA) 

If you haven't yet submitted marks or uploaded evidence, please do this immediately as it is past the deadline (30 April).  

A green tick will be displayed next to the learner’s name in the marks submission screen once you’ve submitted all marks for that learner. If some marks are missing, a grey cross will be displayed. You can view an example of this in our portal user guide, on page 105. 

You can view our new ‘how to submit marks for moderation’ video here for further support.  

What to do if you’ve entered incorrect marks for a learner If you’ve entered the incorrect marks and you’ve already ticked the declaration which means you can’t amend any, please submit our incorrect mark submission notification form as soon as possible. 

Sampling plans 

Sampling plans will be generated on Friday 1 May, the day after the marks submission deadline (30 April), provided you have entered all learner marks for your cohort. 

If you’ve entered all your learners’ marks in the Portal, you’ll have received an email to inform you that the sampling plan has been generated. You should upload evidence for all learners on the sampling plan. 

If you have a cohort of 15 or fewer learners, all learners will be selected for moderation and you can upload evidence immediately, you don’t need to wait for a sampling plan. 

For instructions on how to find your sampling plan please view page 107 of our portal user guide. 

How to upload evidence 

Once you’ve found your learners on the sampling plan list, you’ll then be able to upload evidence. 

  1. Click on the upload icon next to the learner details. 
  2. Click browse.  
  3. Search for the learner files to be uploaded.  
  4. You can only upload 15 files at a time. 

Please see our Portal User guide for guidance on how to upload evidence (page 94). 

What should we upload? 

Learner evidence upload checklists are included within every assessment materials pack detailing exactly what evidence is required by NCFE for moderation to take place. The evidence upload requirements differ per qualification so please ensure you are using the checklist for the specific NEA you are delivering.  

Missing evidence:  

  • If you haven’t submitted your evidence in full by the deadline, we’ll email the programme contacts and your head of centre to request this to be completed. Following this email, you’ll have two working days to provide the missing evidence.  
  •  If we identify missing or incomplete evidence for any learners, we’ll contact you by email and ask you to review all learners included in the sampling plan to avoid repeated requests. 
  • If there are any issues with a learner’s evidence, please indicate this in the evidence upload checklist and upload the checklist alongside the learner’s evidence. 
  • You must inform us if any learner evidence is incomplete, difficult to locate (for example, within another file), or provided in an alternative format (not what is asked for within the brief/upload checklist). 

Please note that missing evidence may delay the release of results and may be referred to our Provider Assurance team for potential maladministration.  

Preparing for next steps 

  Please view our Moderation webpage for more information on: 

  • how the sampling plan list is generated 
  • presenting evidence 
  • uploading evidence 
  • moderation and how marks are applied 
  • the regression process and how adjustments are made 
  • results and support 
  • final Moderation Reports. 
View everything you need to know about 25/26 NEA key dates and support 

Download

 

Paper modification and reasonable adjustments for external assessments

You should also ensure to check our External Assessment Timetable for assessment dates, as paper modification requests need to be made within the below timescales: 

  • Requests for Braile and enlarged papers must be submitted 30 working days before the published date of assessment or the start of the assessment window. 
  • Requests for coloured paper must be submitted 15 working days before the published date of assessment or the start of the assessment window. 

Reasonable adjustments should be put in place before the assessment takes place to reduce the effect of a disability or difficulty that places students at a substantial disadvantage during an assessment. They should be declared at the point of registration but can be added to the Portal up to the date of the assessment. 

Special considerations 

Special considerations are intended to support students who face an unexpected disadvantage at the time of an assessment for reasons outside of their control. Requests should be applied for within 5 days of the date of assessment, and no later than 7 days after the last exam of the V Cert series. 

Paper-based assessments
  • Please note that for paper-based assessments, papers will arrive at centres no more than 3 working days before the date of the assessment. 
  • Please return papers using the Yellow Label service. Papers must be returned after each assessment. 
  • There is no need to return unused assessment papers. 
Online assessments

Please open SecureClient on the devices that will be used during the assessments to allow updates to run prior to the first assessment. We recommend that this is done at least one day before the assessment, not on the same day as any scheduled assessments. 

Supporting your delivery of qualification content and assessments

Please ensure you:  

Online assessments – what you need to know 

In preparation for your learners’ assessments taking place online through our Surpass platform, its vitally important that some elements are checked by you before the assessment is due to take place.

Read more below. 

Please ensure your learners have the correct booking by visiting the Portal and selecting Bookings > View external assessment and then enter your batch number(s). Once your existing bookings load, it’ll show whether they are online or paper based. If you have booked on the incorrect method, please contact our Customer Support team no later than two weeks before the date of the external assessment.  

Providing you have booked for an online assessment, your booking will appear in the Surpass platform, on the Invigilation tab, 120 hours (5 days) before the assessment start date and time.  

It’s important that you read through the guidance documents we have in place to support you with delivering the online assessment to your students on Surpass. Our guidance documents will take you through how to set your devices up in advance of the assessment so it runs smoothly on the day. You can also contact the Customer Support team to support you with this.  

You must have installed and opened the learner interface (SecureClient) on each device ahead of the assessment; guidance on this can be found on our Online Assessment webpage. You should do this ahead of the assessment date, in case any issues arise or you need further support. Doing this well in advance will also allow for any important updates to take place on the software. 

On the morning of the assessment, please have SecureClient already opened on the devices, before the learners are there, so they can be ready to just enter the key codes and start their assessment.   

You may need additional time for your learners to sit their assessment, and this should have been requested at the point that they were booked in for the assessment, on our Portal.   

To check and confirm that your learners have had their additional time added in Surpass, once the booking appears on Surpass 120 hours (5 days) before the assessment, you’ll need to go to the ‘Invigilate’ screen and check the duration column. The standard duration for most assessments is 120 or 150 minutes, therefore if you have requested up to 25% extra time for your student, the duration will show as either 150 or 187 minutes, or if up to 50%, the duration will show as 180 or 225 minutes.  

If your additional time hasn’t been added on, you will need to add it directly into Surpass. To do this, highlight the learner’s assessment, and click the modify duration button at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the edit exam duration box where you can apply the additional time.  

If you experience any difficulties or technical issues when preparing your devices before the assessment, or during the assessment, we have troubleshooting on the above support pages, or you can contact the Customer Support team. However, you should also ensure the availability of technical support on site to respond to issues arising during online assessments, in line with our Regulations for the Conduct of Assessment. 

Further support 

If you have any queries about the NEA or V Certs in general which aren’t answered by the information above, please contact our Customer Support team at [email protected] or via Live Chat on our website. You can also stay up to date with our latest updates through our service newsletter or service news webpages.