Certification FAQs
Here you'll find answers to your frequently asked questions about certification.
You can claim certificates online through the Portal, using the Certification menu. The Portal User Guide gives you a step-by-step guide on how to do this.
T Level certificates, including replacements, are managed by the Department for Education (DfE) through the Manage T Level Results Service.
You do not need to claim certificates for your Level 1/2 Technical Award learners. These learners will be auto-certificated 6 weeks after the results release date.
You’ll be able to view their e-certificates in the Portal from 19 August 2027 and will receive physical copies around 6 weeks after this date.
No. This is because NCFE does not manage certification for T Level students.
Please contact the Department for Education (DfE) or use the Manage T Level Results Service for information on overall final qualification grades and timelines for certification.
You can amend a learner’s name in the ‘My learners’ and then ‘Manage learners’ section of the Portal. The Portal User Guide provides step-by-step instructions on how to do this.
If you’ve made an incorrect claim, you need to complete the invalid certificate form, which can be found on this page. Once we receive the form, we’ll work with you to correct the error and recover any invalid certificates that have been issued.
Our Provider Assurance team will then establish the root cause of the error and recommend preventative measures. During this process, it is of the utmost importance that you do not take any further action in connection to the claim until you receive communication from our Provider Assurance team advising you to do so.
The process to cancel the invalid certificate and/or grades can take up to 5 working days from the initial acknowledgement of your Invalid Certificate form.
A full claim means that the learner has the required amount of units or credits to qualify for a full achievement. They'll be issued a Qualification Certificate or Credit Certificate, depending on the type of qualification or award.
A partial claim means that the learner doesn’t have the required amount of units or credits for a full achievement. They’ll be issued a Unit Certificate or Credit Certificate, depending on the type of qualification or award.
Yes. When you make a claim, the Portal will update the learner status with a ‘full’ or ‘partial’ status based on the units you’ve selected for your learners, so please check this before you submit your claim. The qualification specification gives more details on full and partial achievement criteria.
If your claim is showing as 'Pending’, it’s waiting to be signed off by the External Quality Assurer (EQA). This applies if your centre does not have Direct Claim Status (DCS).
Certificates
Centres claiming qualifications with Direct Claim Status (DCS) will find their submissions are automatically accepted in the Portal. For those without DCS, claims will need to be manually signed off by one of our External Quality Assurers (EQA).
If we receive an approved certificate claim before 5pm, this will be dispatched the next Tuesday or Thursday. Claims received after 5pm on these days will be dispatched on the next Tuesday or Thursday from the claim being received.
Certificates posted to domestic UK centres should arrive within 21 working days. We aim to deliver to international addresses within 28 working days.
Please contact our Customer Support team if your certificates have not arrived within these timeframes.
Replacement certificates
Replacement certificates can only be requested for NCFE, CACHE, Functional Skills and V Certs qualifications achieved since 2012. For earlier achievements, we may be able to issue a Proof of Qualification if we still hold your records in our data.
Centres looking to request a replacement certificate or a Proof of Qualification can do so by completing the form on our replacement certificate page for centres.
Learners looking to request a replacement certificate or a Proof of Qualification can do so by completing the form on our replacement certificate page for learners.
We cannot issue replacement certificates or Proofs of Qualification for any qualification awarded before 1 September 1994.
If we can find a record of the achievement, we’ll issue and post a new certificate within ten working days of your payment clearing.
This could be for several reasons, including:
- an external quality assurance review has not yet taken place, and no review has been scheduled
- a review has been scheduled, so claims are temporarily on hold
- portfolios do not meet the required standard or contain discrepancies and need further work before certification can take place
- learners have not been sampled, or belong to a group that has not been sampled.
There are many reasons why a claim may be rejected, but your EQA will support you through the actions needed to be completed before certificates can be issued. If you are uncertain of your EQA's contact details, please refer to the Portal User Guide and visit the ‘Reports’ page.
Direct Claim Status (DCS) allows certificate claims to be automatically accepted in the Portal.
DCS is awarded for individual qualifications and is based on quality criteria that are measured and reported on during external quality assurance visits. Centres can achieve DCS after one visit or two consecutive visits over a maximum period of 18 months.
When you meet the quality criteria, we'll automatically award you DCS for that qualification. We'll email the Programme Contact at your centre to inform them that you've been awarded DCS with a copy of your visit report.
For more information about DCS and the quality criteria to achieve it, please refer to the DCS section on our website, or read our DCS FAQs.
If you already hold DCS with another awarding organisation for a qualification that NCFE also offers, you can request a transfer by completing the form on our Transferring DCS from another awarding organisation page.