Functional and Digital skills updates

Stay up to date with the latest Functional and Digital Skills assessment updates. See below.

[Updated 14/09/26]

We’ve improved our Essential Digital Skills qualifications

We're making improvements to our Essential Digital Skills qualifications (EDSQ) to enhance the learner experience, simplify assessment, and provide greater support for centres and delivery staff.

Following your valuable feedback and a thorough review of our Essential Digital Skills qualifications, we’ve updated our assessments and sample assessment materials. These changes focus on four key areas: accessibility, moderation, results, and support.

What is changing?

To improve consistency and confidence in assessment outcomes, we're moving from internally marked to externally marked assessments. This means that assessments will now be marked by NCFE examiners to support greater consistency and clarity.

We’ve removed the need for a witness observation record, allowing for all required evidence to be uploaded by the learner under invigilated conditions

We’ll issue results on the sixth working day of the assessment being successfully uploaded to the online assessment platform.

Where new assessment papers are introduced, we’ll issue results on the 35^th working day. Outside of our new paper introductions, results will be issued on the sixth working day.

We've reviewed our assessments to help learners demonstrate their skills and knowledge in a more flexible way, by offering the option to download assessments and sit offline. This reduces reliance on internet access during assessments.

You can view the full details of the changes here.

Essential Digital Skills
Delivery mode	Assessment to and from date	Results available
On-screen only	27/10/2026 – 08/12/2026	15/12/2026
On-screen only	27/11/2026 – 19/01/2027	26/01/2027
On-screen only	07/04/2027 – 20/05/2027	27/05/2027

Please note: Our EDSQ external assessments require pre-release materials, and we will communicate their availability and location once they are available for publication

[Updated 18/08/26]

Functional Skills new papers update 2026

Following the successful launch of our new style English and Mathematics papers, we now have a sufficient number of papers in the live assessment bank. As a result, new papers will be introduced just once per session for each delivery mode. Previously, we introduced multiple new papers (up to three per delivery mode); however, these changes mean you will now benefit from greater access to our 6-working-day results turnaround.

English and Mathematics new paper introductions

Delivery mode	Assessment to and from date	Results Available
Paper-based	13/01/2027 – 23/02/2027	02/03/2027
On-screen & RI	05/02/2027 – 18/03/2027	25/03/2027

From 2027 onwards the paper-bank will be refreshed in January for paper-based assessment and February for online assessments. Exact dates will be published nearer the time.

Digital Functional Skills new paper introductions

Delivery mode	Assessment to and from date	Results Available
On-screen & RI	07/09/2026 – 16/10/2026	23/10/2026

Once the updated pre-release materials are available you will be able to download them here. We will send a communication to advise all our Digital Functional Skills centres that the files have been uploaded to the website.

Answers to your queries

Why do we introduce new papers into the live assessment bank? 

It’s a regulatory requirement with our regulator Ofqual that assessment papers are regularly introduced and retired to ensure consistency and confidentiality of assessments. 

Why does the 6-day turnaround need to be paused when a new paper is released? 

When new papers are introduced, there’s a standardisation and validation process referred to as awarding, which is the process all awarding organisations use to establish pass boundaries. 
During the awarding process, the standard 6-day result turnaround is paused to gather sufficient live learner data which is scrutinised by an awarding committee including Subject Chairs and Chief Examiners. This enables NCFE to establish consistent and reliable pass marks based on live learner performance. 
New paper introductions and associated results release will never exceed a maximum of 35 working days, which only applies if a learner sits an assessment on the first day that the new papers are live, thereafter the maximum timeframe reduces day by day.

Why does the timeframe need to be as long as a maximum 35 working days? 

From the new papers going live there needs to be a process of building up live learner sits which last approximately 14 days.
Examiners will attend a standardisation event led by the Chief Examiner where live learner responses are discussed and standardised with mark schemes being finalised prior to marking taking place.
We ensure examiners are marking consistently and reliably following standardisation by enacting a stringent sampling plan. 
Examiners who have successfully completed sampling are provided with their allocations and marking commences. 
Awarding process is instigated, and pass marks or grade boundary ranges are applied.
Our Assessment Delivery team conducts quality assurance checks and subsequently releases results.

What are grade boundaries? 

Grade boundaries occur following awarding where analysis of learner assessments is unable to set a definitive pass mark, and the awarding committee needs to see further scripts at potential pass / fail marks to determine the pass mark for any specific papers. 
When we introduce onscreen and remote invigilation papers, we introduce three sets at each level (Level 1 and Level 2), and all these papers need to have a pass mark agreed.

Further information around grade boundaries and pass marks for live papers can be found in this document and on the qualification pages on our website > Assessment Materials > External assessment guidance.

What can we help you find?

Functional and Digital skills updates

Functional Skills new papers update 2026