We’ve improved our Functional Skills qualifications

Following your valuable feedback and a thorough review of our English and maths qualifications, we’ve made improvements to our assessments, resources and practice papers.

We're excited to announce that our new papers are now available. More details on new paper introductions and results release can be found on our key dates information webpage.

We’ve focused on three key areas:

Accessibility – we’ve made our assessments more accessible for learners to complete and demonstrate their knowledge.

Clarity – we’ve improved our approach to make assessments clearer for learners:

• Our maths assessments now require less reading, and we’ve removed the context from underpinning skills questions.
• Our English Reading assessments now assess more of the main points of a text, with more variety in the question types. At Level 1, we’ve made big changes to the way we assess learners’ comparison skills, and at Level 2, to their comparison and analysis skills.
• Our English Writing assessments at Entry Level now include our new approach to the spelling test. There are also new discrete punctuation tasks. At Level 1 and 2, learners will have longer to complete the assessments. Please note that due to the duration of these assessments being increased by 10 minutes, the cost of remote invigilation will increase from £34.00 to £40.50, in line with our fees and pricing guide.
• We have new mark schemes that will support learning and teaching activities.

Support – we have a range of new materials and support available:

• Our Provider Development team are offering training and events for delivery staff. Find out more at Functional Skills events | NCFE.
• We have sample assessment materials at each level, with practice papers to come in November. Onscreen sample assessment materials can be booked and accessed through Surpass. In-browser versions can be accessed at Functional Skills online sample assessments - English and maths. Paper-based versions can be accessed on the individual qualification webpages under ‘Assessment Materials’.

• Practice Papers for our new-style assessments will be available as follows:

  Entry Levels

  These will be available from 7 November 2025 for all Entry Levels in Maths and English.

  Levels 1 and 2

  Practice paper assessment materials for English Reading and Writing at Levels 1 and 2 will be available on the website from 14 November 2025.

  Practice paper assessment materials for Maths at Level 2 will be available on the website from 14 November 2025, with Level 2 to follow by 28 November at the latest.

• Our External Quality Assurance team is here to support with any queries you may have.

We have launched new learning and teaching resources to support the delivery of the improved qualifications:

• The resources cover all levels, and each features a detailed scheme of work covering all 55 guided learning hours of the curriculum.
• Comprehensive PowerPoint documents are available to allow you to run 2-hour sessions with class activities and embedded videos, some with AI-powered presenters.
• Entry Level learners have access to workbooks supporting learning for sessions, and new end-of-topic project workbooks to consolidate it.
• At Levels 1 and 2, comprehensive learner workbooks cover the whole curriculum.