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V Cert service messages

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Please see below the latest service messages relevant to our Level 1/2 Technical Awards (V Certs). 

Updated on [04/03/2026] 

Your monthly update (March 2026) 

Below you’ll find your monthly update for March 2026, including important reminders for the non-exam assessment (NEA) and assessment variation requests, how you can join us for our V Cert drop-in Q&A and a link to listen to the latest episodes of our podcast.  

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Important reminders for the non-exam assessment (NEA) 

Reminder: NEA mark submission deadline is Thursday 30 April 

All learner marks for the NEA must be entered into the Portal by Thursday 30 April. 

Meeting this deadline is crucial to ensure accurate and timely results for your learners. You can submit marks as soon as your learners have completed the assessment and assessor marks have been internally quality assured. You can do this through the moderation section in the Portal. You should follow the instructions in our Portal user guide from page 103. 

Following the introduction of multi-factor authentication for logging into our Portal, please ensure you log in ahead of this deadline. For guidance on multi-factor authentication, please explore our FAQs page. 

Any late submissions may result in delayed results for your learners and could lead to potential maladministration issues. 

Additionally, please remember that your sampling plan indicating learners selected for remote moderation will be generated on Friday 1 May, provided that all marks for the cohort are submitted by Thursday 30 April. The sampling plan will indicate which learners we need you to submit assessment evidence for. 

The timely submission of your learners’ marks and evidence is critical to avoid delays in the moderation process.  

My learner didn’t attend the assessment and has only partially completed it – what do I do? 

If a learner has a booking but doesn’t attend or doesn’t fully complete the assessment, please follow the guidance below: 

  • If the learner has attempted part of the NEA and produced evidence but achieved no awardable marks for a task, the mark entered should be 0. 
  • If a task hasn’t been attempted at all, this should be recorded as DNA (did not attend). 
  • If the learner did not attempt any of the NEA tasks, all tasks must be recorded as DNA, resulting in an overall mark of DNA for the assessment. 
  • If a learner did not attend, this must also be reflected clearly on the Assessor Feedback to Learner document. 

Please note that once the assessment window is open, your learners are classed as entered for the assessment and cannot be withdrawn. Marks (including any DNA entries) must be submitted by the mark submission deadline. Failure to enter marks by the deadline will prevent the sampling plan from generating. 

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Checking bookings 

As we prepare for the summer external assessments, we recommend that you check that all your learners are booked on the relevant assessments. For assessment dates please refer to our assessment timetable. You can review your bookings on the Portal under Bookings – View Assessments. Here you can search by batch, learner or qualification and view both the External Assessment Bookings Confirmation report and the Invigilator’s Register. If you need any assistance with this, please contact our Customer Support team. 

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Assessment variation requests  

We wanted to remind you that assessment variation requests should be received no later than 20 working days prior to the external assessment. You can submit an assessment variation if, for any assessment detailed in our assessment timetable, you wish to request approval to: 

  • vary the published assessment date 
  • vary the published assessment time (beyond the permitted 30 minutes) 
  • change (or extend) the assessment site from your current approved location. 

Please refer to the JCQ Instructions for Conducting Examinations (ICE) for guidance on examples for which we typically will/will not accept a variation. 

To request an assessment variation please fill in this form. 

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Term-time checkpoint opening soon 

We wanted to remind you that the term-time checkpoint is opening on Monday 23 March. Your centre must take action if you deliver any of the qualifications in scope of this year’s arrangements to ensure the timely delivery of vocational and technical qualification (VTQ) results in 2025-26. You’ll need to complete this checkpoint by Thursday 30 April. Visit our timely delivery of VTQ results webpage for more information on the actions you’ll need to take, and where to find support.   

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Training and events 

V Cert drop-in Q&A with Rachel and Beth: key information for year 10 and year 11 delivery, Wednesday 11 March, 3:30-4:30pm 

Join Provider Development Officers, Rachel and Beth, for an open Q&A session focused on delivering all V Cert Level 1/2 Technical Awards across both years 10 and 11. Whether you're teaching one group or managing delivery across both year groups, this session will help you feel more confident about what’s expected and how to stay on track. 

Book your place now  

Ensure to complete moderation administration training 

Administration training is available on our moderation webpage.  This training will support you through the activities associated with the delivery and moderation of internal assessments.  

Here are a few key things to keep in mind:  

  • Ensure name accuracy: the name on evidence submissions must match the name used to register the learner with NCFE.   
  • Reasonable adjustments: if any learner selected for moderation has had a reasonable adjustment applied, this must be indicated on the tick box on the checklist in the assessment materials pack. This ensures that adjustments are properly documented and accounted for. The checklist must be submitted alongside learner evidence. You must also record any reasonable adjustments via our Reasonable Adjustment Tracking Document which you can find at the bottom of our Webpage. 
  • Upload limits: be mindful of the upload limits for evidence. Make sure that files meet the specified size requirements to avoid any issues when submitting. Take a look at our upload guide. 

Remember to access our key dates schedule which outlines upcoming requirements and important actions for V Certs , making it easier to manage your administrative tasks and ensure everything runs smoothly.   

Sign up for our internal quality assurance (IQA) training events 

These events are a great opportunity to meet with internal quality assurance (IQA) professionals and like-minded practitioners to learn about or expand your knowledge and understanding of IQA and our qualifications. Our event in March is fully booked, but you can join the waitlist There are a few tickets left for our April event, and we also have events running in May and June. Sign up now. 

All About V Certs Podcast 

Hosted by our experienced Provider Development officers, Rachel and Beth, each bite-sized episode (just 15–20 minutes long) is packed with practical insights, top tips, and expert guidance on all things V Certs. Stay up to date with the latest insights, updates, and expert discussions around V Certs by following our official Provider Development Podcast on Podbean.

Archive 
February 2026
Your monthly update (February 2026) 

Below you’ll find your monthly update for February 2026, including V Cert Drop-In Q&A and Qualifications updates and withdrawals.  

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V Certs and the non-exam assessment (NEA): key dates  

Please review our V Certs key dates document. It includes important dates for the summer 2026 assessment series, along with details of the activities required at each stage and guidance on where to find the support you need.   

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Updates from our Provider Development team 

Join our Provider Development team for upcoming events, including a drop-in Q&A next month. We’re also sharing details on how you can subscribe to the new V Certs podcast! 

V Cert drop-in Q&A with Rachel and Beth: key information for year 10 and year 11 delivery 

Join Provider Development Officers, Rachel and Beth, for an open Q&A session focused on delivering  V Cert Level 1/2 Technical Awards across both years 10 and 11. Whether you're teaching one group or managing delivery across both year groups, this session will help you feel more confident about what’s expected and how to stay on track. 

Date and time: Wednesday 10 March, 3:30pm – 4:30pm 

Sign-up today 

Podcast: Welcome to All About V Certs 

The go-to podcast for busy teachers delivering NCFE Level 1/2 Technical Awards. Hosted by our experienced Provider Development Officers, Rachel and Beth, each bite-sized episode (just 15–20 minutes long) is packed with practical insights, top tips, and expert guidance on all things V Certs.  

Subscribe and listen now   

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Service continuity 

 Thank you for your continued patience whilst we’ve been fully restoring our services following the cyber incident we experienced late last year. We’re pleased to share with you that the NCFE Portal will be available for you to use, with full functionality, from Monday 9 February. 

As you’re aware from our previous communications, we proactively closed access to the Portal as a precautionary measure as soon as we learned of the incident, and this enabled our IT team, working with specialist cyber security partners, to complete rigorous testing of the platform, putting in place additional security protocols for you to use the Portal with confidence. The only change that you may notice is that the Portal will only be available from 6am until 10pm GMT (rather than 24/7), to allow us to actively monitor the platform. This will be in place until at least September 2026 and we'll let you know if we make any changes to these hours. 

To support your use of the Portal please refer to the Portal User Guide or you can visit our service continuity webpage for further information and FAQs ahead of Monday 9 February. 

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Training 
Standardisation training 

Standardisation training materials are temporarily available to download from our service continuity web page.  

These resources provide delivery teams with the opportunity to: 

  • review tutor guidance and marking bands 
  • align assessment decisions across teams 
  • reflect on Chief Examiner/Moderator Reports from summer 2025. 

We recommend all staff involved in assessment should complete this training as part of your annual standardisation activities.  

Administration training 

Administration training materials are available year-round on our moderation page to support your teams in preparing for the 2025-26 assessment window. 

The training consists of a series of short videos covering essential processes, including: 

  • how to access assessment materials 
  • how to submit provider marks for moderation 
  • how to view students selected for moderation and upload evidence.  

We recommend all colleagues involved in assessment administration complete or revisit these videos regularly to ensure they remain confident and up to date with moderation requirements. 

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January 2026

January 2026

Upcoming events  

Come along and join us for our Child Development and Care IQA training event, taking place on Friday 30 January, 1:30-4pm. 

This is an opportunity to explore the assessment and IQA processes related to the non-exam assessment (NEA) through a virtual meeting of subject teachers. In this event, we’ll:  

  • explore the general principles of the assessment and IQA process in relation to the NEA 
  • explain what we expect from Assessors and IQAs 
  • describe know our paperwork and processes 
  • highlight and share good practice  
  • facilitate networking with other practitioners. 

Book your place now 

December 2025

No communications for December 2025.

November 2025

New Assessor and IQA training events available for booking in the 2025-26 session  

Sign up to attend one of our V Cert training events: These events are a fantastic opportunity to explore the assessment and IQA processes related to the NEA through a virtual meeting of subject teachers. Attending an event will allow you to:   

  • explore the general principles of the assessment and IQA process in relation to the NEA  
  • understand what we expect from Assessors and IQAs  
  • get to know our paperwork and processes  
  • highlight and share good practice  
  • meet and network with other practitioners  

Please note that discussion will not relate to current live NEA assessment materials.   

This training is suitable for anyone involved in the assessment and IQA of the qualification, whether assessing our qualifications for the first time; or even experienced Assessors who require CPD.  

Engineering – Monday 8 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Engineering – Monday 12 January 2026 – 13:30-16:00  

Business and Enterprise – Wednesday 10 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Business and Enterprise – Wednesday 14 January 2026 – 10:00-12:30  

Health and Social Care – Thursday 4 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Health and Social Care – Thursday18 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Music Technology – Wednesday 3 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Music Technology – Friday 16 January 2026 – 13:30-16:00  

Food and Cookery – Monday 1 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Food and Cookery – Monday 15 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Health and Fitness – Tuesday 16 December 2025 – 16:00-18:30  

Health and Fitness – Tuesday 13 January 2026 – 13:30-16:00  

Assessor training  

Our assessor training events will provide you with an opportunity to:  

  • explore the general principles of the assessment process  
  • understand what we expect from Assessors  
  • get to know our paperwork and processes  
  • highlight and share good practice  
  • meet and network with other practitioners.  

This training is suitable for anyone assessing our qualifications, whether you are new to assessment, assessing our qualifications for the first time, or even experienced Assessors who require CPD. If you attend this event, you’ll be eligible to receive a digital credential that you can add to your professional development portfolio.  

Assessor training – Tuesday 3 February 2026 – 09:30 – 12:30  

Assessor training – Tuesday 3 March 2026 – 09:30 – 12:30  

Assessor training – Wednesday 22 April 2026 – 09:30 – 12:30  

Assessor training – Wednesday 6 May 2026 – 09:30 – 12:30  

Assessor training – Wednesday 10 June 2026 – 09:30 – 12:30  

Functional Skills Assessor – Wednesday 13 May – 09:30 – 12:30  

Please note, this training is generic across our qualifications and not subject specific. Colleagues and trainers will be from a wide range of sectors. If you require subject specific training please see links to Support visits.  

IQA training  

Our internal quality assurance (IQA) events will provide you with an opportunity to:  

  • explore the general principles of the internal quality assurance process  
  • understand what we expect from you  
  • get to know our paperwork and processes  
  • review current practices and develop ideas for improvement  
  • understand how to achieve and maintain Direct Claim Status (DCS)  
  • meet and network with other IQA practitioners.  

This training is suitable for anyone involved in the IQA process of our qualifications, whether you’re new to IQA, applying it to our qualifications for the first time, or even if you’re an experienced internal quality assurer and require CPD. Delegates who attend this event will be eligible to receive a digital credential that you can add to your professional development portfolio.  

IQA training – Tuesday 17 February 2026 09:30 – 12:30  

IQA training – Tuesday 17 March 2026 09:30 – 12:30  

IQA training – Thursday 23 April 2026 09:30 – 12:30  

IQA training – Friday 8 May 2026 09:30 – 12:30  

IQA training – Thursday 11 June 2026 09:30 – 12:30  

Functional Skills IQA – Thursday 20 November – 09:30 – 12:30  

Functional Skills IQA – Wednesday 20 May – 09:30 – 12:30  

Functional Skills IQA – Wednesday 8 July – 09:30 – 12:30  

Please note, this training is generic across our qualifications and not subject specific. Colleagues and trainers will be from a wide range of sectors. If you require subject specific training please see links to Support visits.  

Event information  

Each booking is valid for one delegate only, and only the registered delegate will receive confirmation of attendance.  

Each event costs £75 per delegate and is delivered via Microsoft Teams as an interactive session.  

All the above events are delivered remotely via Microsoft Teams, please ensure you have a mic, camera and chat availability to partake in the discussions.  

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the team on [email protected].  

October 2025

No V Certs communication for October 2025.

September 2025

No V Certs communication for September 2025.

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