Functional Skills delivery support
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.
Everything you need to know to successfully deliver NCFE's Functional Skills qualifications.
On this page you'll find links to:
- qualification information pages
- qualification-specific support, teaching and assessment materials for each subject/level
- the latest sample papers and assessment information
- NCFE's mandatory policies and assessment regulations and guides
- helpful administrative functions such as remote invigilation and requests for compact and rich feedback
- Events, webinars and CPD opportunities to support with onboarding, planning, delivery and assessment requirements
- A learner toolkit designed to support learners with Functional Skills maths and English assessments.
Functional Skills qualifications and resources
Qualification information pages and links to all qualification-specific support, teaching and assessment materials for each subject/level.
- NCFE Entry Level 1 Functional Skills Qualification in English 603/5059/3
- NCFE Entry Level 2 Functional Skills Qualification in English 603/5056/8
- NCFE Entry Level 3 Functional Skills Qualification in English 603/5052/0
- NCFE Level 1 Functional Skills Qualification in English 603/5058/1
- NCFE Level 2 Functional Skills Qualification in English 603/5054/4
- NCFE Entry Level 1 Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics 603/5057/X
- NCFE Entry Level 2 Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics 603/5053/2
- NCFE Entry Level 3 Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics 603/5061/1
- NCFE Level 1 Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics 603/5055/6
- NCFE Level 2 Functional Skills Qualification in Mathematics 603/5060/X
Online sample assessments: English and maths
Past-paper assessments are available in paper-based, onscreen (available via Surpass) and in-browser formats.
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Online sample assessments: Digital
Our past-paper assessments for Digital are available in-browser.
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Functional Skills events
Our events will help you with onboarding, planning, delivery and assessment requirements.
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Functional Skills key dates and updates
Key delivery, assessment, assessment booking and results dates and much more.
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Assessment delivery support
Everything you need to know about feedback, post results services, and transfers of achievement for Functional Skills from NCFE.
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Learner Toolkit
Resources designed to support learners with Functional Skills maths and English assessments.
Access the toolkitFunctional Skills service messages
Please follow the link to the latest service messages relevant to our Functional Skills qualifications.
Request a support call
Get expert advice on planning, delivery and preparing your learners for assessments.
Functional Skills forms and administration
Including requests for contextualisation of Functional Skills controlled assessments, invigilation exception requests, remote invigilation and the Yellow Label Service.
NCFE has an online assessment system that allows centres to deliver external assessments securely on-screen. We’re operating the most current version of this system, which is called Surpass, to ensure our customers and learners have the best experience possible.
The system is free to use and gives you full control over booking and managing your learners’ assessments. The system is secure and easy to use, and we have a full range of support guides plus our Customer Support team available to support you with using the system.
We offer a remote invigilation solution for online assessment that allows the learner to sit their online assessment without the need for centre invigilation.
Unless approved via the Invigilation exception requests form, Functional Skills tutors are no longer permitted to be directly involved in either the administration or invigilation of Functional Skills external assessments in their subject area.
This process is for centres to request validation of contextualised Functional Skills controlled assessments to a given context.
The Yellow Label Service is a traceable external assessment dispatch service provided by Parcelforce Worldwide which allows centres to arrange high security collections to return papers to us, at no cost to you.
NCFE offers the Yellow Label Service for Functional Skills assessment papers (English and maths only).
For all maths and English online assessments, your learner will now receive their own individual score report automatically, at no extra cost.
Mapped to the Functional Skills coverage and range statements, the score report will support the delivery of targeted content for any re-sit requirements, as well as enabling you to target areas for development as your learners progress from Level 1 to 2.
In addition to free automated feedback for our maths, English and Digital Functional Skills external assessments, we offer further feedback, should your learners require an indication of which area to improve in preparation for a re-sit.
These feedback options provide a comprehensive breakdown of your learner’s assessment and are compiled by a subject specialist.
Transfer of achievement is the process through which learners can transfer achievement of individual Functional Skills English components between registrations held with different awarding organisations (AOs), to allow them to complete the qualification.
It is available to individual learners who have not achieved an overall Functional Skills qualification in English, but who have achieved individual components within the qualification.