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 let you know that the Portal is now live. You can use all functionality within the Portal; from registering learners to booking assessments, from claiming certificates to accessing secure materials.
As a reminder, multi-factor authentication is required every time you log in and you will need to set this up in order to access the Portal. For more guidance on this please refer to the FAQs below.
You should not see any change in the way that you use the Portal, but please note that it’s now only available between the hours of 6am and 10pm GMT to support active monitoring of the platform.
We’d like to reassure you that the Portal has been rigorously tested, and we’ve put in place additional security measures so that you can use it with confidence.
If you have any queries, please read our FAQs below, or our Customer Support team is available to respond to urgent queries. You can reach them by phone on 0191 239 8000, 8.30am – 5.00pm from Monday to Thursday and 8.30am – 4.30pm on Friday.
Multi-factor authentication
Prior to the incident, you may remember that we introduced multi-factor authentication (MFA), a security process that requires users to provide more than one method of verification to gain access to their Portal account. This is now more important than ever as we look to further strengthen online security and protect against unauthorised access. Please remind yourself of the information, troubleshooting guidance, and FAQs around multi-factor authentication here.
Waiving late registration fees
We understand the delays that the Portal downtime has caused you and would like to reassure you that we will be waiving all late registration fees until Friday 27 February to give you time to catch up on any planned activity.
Do I need a new account for the Portal?
No. However, you may remember that in November, we introduced multi-factor authentication (MFA) to increase the security of your account. When you log into the Portal, you may need to select ‘Forgot your password?’ and change your password. If you experience any issues logging in or need additional help, please visit our dedicated webpage with troubleshooting information and FAQs.
I’ve forgotten my username and password, what do I do?
Please visit our dedicated webpage with troubleshooting information and FAQs.
Since we changed to MFA your username will now be your email address. If you have multiple accounts, for more than one NCFE centre, you will now be able to access all centres with a single log in. You will login using your email address, and you can then switch between your centres in the Switch Centre section located in the top right of the page.
Need help setting up multi-factor authentication?
If you experience any issues logging in or need additional help, please visit our dedicated webpage with troubleshooting information and FAQs.
Is the Portal safe and secure to use?
Yes, we took the Portal down as a precautionary measure so that we could introduce additional security protocols and complete rigorous testing so that you can now use the platform with confidence.
What additional security measures have been put into place?
We’ve put in place 24/7 monitoring and network containment (access only allowed between 6am and 10pm GMT) alongside additional measures that allow us to analyse behaviour over time, giving us greater oversight and tracking capabilities.
Are there any changes to how I operate the Portal?
No, please use the Portal as you always have done. The Portal user guide is a handy guide to support you with any process queries.
The only change is that the Portal will now only be available to use between the hours of 6am and 10pm GMT, so that we can reduce security risks and provide robust monitoring. This will be in place until at least September 2026 and we’ll let you know if there are any changes.
I’m having issues downloading resources from the website. How can I access these?
Please visit our dedicated webpage with troubleshooting information and FAQs.
I submitted a manual request for registration/booking /claiming a certificate, do I need to do it again?
No, as long as you submitted your request by 5pm on Monday 2 February, this will be processed.
I submitted a manual request registration/booking/claiming a certificate on Monday 2 February but was then asked to follow up with more information, how do I know if it’s been processed?
As long as your form was submitted by 5pm on Monday 2 February, we will be processing your request. If we were unable to do so because of missing information, we will have got in touch with you to ensure we have all the information we needed.
I used the online form to submit registrations/bookings/claims but I can see these have not been actioned/ there are learners missing now I have logged in. What shall I do?
You can now access the NCFE Portal and can self-serve for registrations, bookings and claims. If you need to add any additional learners, make bookings or claim certificates, you can process these yourself as normal, including making any corrections if any information does not look as expected.
I’ve been delayed in being able to register my learners, will I still be charged a late registration fee?
No, we’re waiving late fees on any registrations made up to close of business on Friday 27 February to give you time to catch up on all planned activity.
Can I order a replacement certificate?
Yes our replacement certificate service has been reinstated, please follow our usual replacement certificate process.
Can T Level exam papers be returned using the yellow label service?
Yes, so please continue to follow existing guidance for yellow label service returns.
Can I claim my learners’ certificates?
The Portal is now available with full functionality allowing you to claim learner certificates.
Can I still register learners?
The Portal is now available with full functionality allowing learner registrations to take place.
I’ve been delayed in being able to register my learners, will I still be charged a late registration fee?
No, we’re waiving late fees on any registrations made up to close of business on Friday 27 February to give you time to catch up on all planned activity.
Will the first term-time checkpoint be going ahead in January?
No, the first term-time checkpoint will no longer take place.
We will instead proceed with a single term-time checkpoint, aligned with the original dates of the second scheduled checkpoint. That checkpoint will open on Monday 23 March 2026 and close on Thursday 30 April 2026.
Find out more information on our timely delivery of results page.
How can I access the non-exam assessment (NEA)?
The Portal is now live meaning you can download the NEA in the usual manner.
If an assessment was cancelled, will a re-sit fee be charged?
No additional fees will be charged for any assessments that were cancelled and rebooked.
Can I register learners and request Gateway on epaPRO?
Yes, you can access epaPRO as normal to make registrations and request Gateway. Our teams will process your request as soon as possible.
What happens if a learner does not submit their evidence because they didn’t receive a reminder during EPA, or if their assessment is rebooked and this moves them outside their EPA window?
Any periods of inactivity caused by our system disruption will be treated as an official pause to the EPA. This means the learner’s EPA timeframe will not be negatively affected, and their EPA period will be adjusted accordingly.
When and how will I receive my learners’ results?
We appreciate your patience whilst we worked to ensure all delayed results were issued accurately and securely, and we’re pleased to let you know that all delayed Functional Skills results have now been released and we have resumed our standard 6-day turnaround for all results.
Please see below for a reminder on the results release schedule whilst 6-day turnaround was paused:
Any paper-based assessments sat from Monday 12 January onwards, and all online assessments, will now follow our standard six-working-day turnaround for results.
Where can I access results?
All online and paper-based results are now available on the Portal. Our paper-based results are no longer being provided via a SharePoint link however, online results will still be available in Surpass as well as the Portal.
My learner has passed and needs their certificate, what can we do?
The Portal is now back online with all online results issued in the usual manner.
Can I continue delivering my internal assessments?
Yes, for any internal assessments already booked in the Portal your learners can continue to complete these as planned.
Why is my learner not appearing in Surpass to make a booking?
Portal is now available with full functionality allowing registrations to take place and learners will automatically transfer into Surpass.
There were planned new paper introductions for English, Mathematics and Digital, are these going ahead?
We have re-scheduled our English and Mathematics new paper releases and have published the dates here. Our Digital Functional Skills new paper introductions are currently being reviewed, and we hope to share revised dates within the next couple of weeks.
Has learner data been impacted?
To date, we do not have any evidence that learner data has been impacted by the incident, other than the temporary unavailability caused by us proactively taking our systems offline. If you have any specific queries in relation to this, please contact us by email at [email protected]
Can I access materials for standardisation and administration training?
Please visit this webpage for more information.
