Is my assessment going ahead?

T Level core exam assessments due to take this autumn series went ahead as planned.

On-demand Functional Skills assessments can still be booked through Surpass, but we cannot currently accept new paper-based booking. 

Upcoming Functional Skills paper-based bookings made prior to Thursday 27 November have been processed from Monday 8 December.

On-screen dental multiple choice question assessments can still be booked and sat through Surpass as normal.

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.

I need to upload evidence for the T Level employer set project, when can I do this?

If you have evidence outstanding, our team will have been in contact with you to resolve any queries before the Christmas break. All evidence should have been received no later than midday on Friday 19 December. 

As the NCFE Portal remains unavailable, we will share a secure SharePoint link so you can submit any outstanding student evidence. To maintain appropriate governance and control, we'll provide your colleagues with secure access to a folder at qualification and assessment level, containing individual student folders, and instructions on which students or evidence the query relates to. 

This approach will enable evidence to be submitted to the correct location and allow for validation checks to be completed prior to submission to the examiner to ensure marking can continue as planned and to reduce the risk to student results in March. 

Can I claim my learners’ certificates?

We’ve put in place an interim solution for making certificate claims which is now available. If you need to make an urgent certificate claim request, please complete the actions on this webpage.  

Can I still register learners?

We know how important the functionality of the Portal is for you and, following the decision to take the Portal offline as a precautionary measure in response to the incident, we wanted to provide an update on this. We now have a team available to support you with administering the following Portal functions: 

• learner registrations 

• assessment bookings, including bookings for controlled assessments for Functional Skills and external assessments for CACHE and Functional Skills. 
• making certificate claims. 

Find out more on our interim Portal support webpage. 

Will the first term-time checkpoint be going ahead in January?

Please note that the first term-time checkpoint will no longer take place. You will not be required to complete any actions in relation to this change. 

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)?

Our Portal is currently unavailable for external use so you will be unable to download the live NEA. You can request a copy of the NEA by contacting [email protected]. We will only be able to send this to a centre contact at a centre email address, and the person making the request should be the person who would normally access the NEA from the Portal. You will need to confirm you currently have bookings for the 2026 NEA assessment. You must not share the materials with anyone not involved in the delivery of the assessment.

Can I contact NCFE?

Our NCFE Customer Support lines are open from 8.30am – 5.00pm from Monday to Thursday and 8.30am – 4.30pm on Friday. Our telephone support is available via 0191 239 8000 along with our main email addresses: [email protected] and [email protected].

Please be assured that our teams are working around the clock to restore full service as quickly and safely as possible. 

If an assessment is cancelled, will a re-sit fee be charged? 

No additional fees will be charged for any assessments that are 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.

Can I still apply for approval as a new centre at this time?  

Yes, please continue to apply as normal through this process.

Can I still apply for additional product approval at this time?  

Yes, please continue to apply as normal through this process and our Approvals team will process your application. 

How do I check if I’m already approved for a specific qualification? 

Whilst our systems are unavailable, please contact [email protected] who can confirm if you’re approved for a specific qualification. 

When and how will I receive my learners’ results?  

We appreciate your patience whilst we worked to ensure all results delayed 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 are now in 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: 

• The results for all new paper on-screen assessments were released from Wednesday 10 December, and you can access these in the Surpass results screen.  

• The results for paper-based assessments sat between Friday 17 October and Thursday 27 November were originally scheduled for release on Thursday 4 December. We released these results on Friday 19 December.  

• The results for paper-based assessments sat between Friday 28 November and Friday 12 December (where papers were returned within SLA) were released on Friday 9 January.  

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? 

Online results are currently visible in Surpass. If you cannot see results as expected this could be due to filters within the Surpass screen, so please ensure there are no date filters in place. Or it could also be because learner results are on hold for malpractice, or because they are between boundaries and further awarding activity is needed. These are normal activities unrelated to the cyber security incident, and our team will be in contact through email to confirm.   

For paper-based assessments, results are being issued via a SharePoint link sent by email to the centre contact who made the booking.  

My learner has failed. What can I do? 

You can book a resit for them in Surpass if online, or contact us via the interim Portal support webpage to request a paper-based booking.  

My learner has passed and needs their certificate, what can we do? 

Whilst the Portal remains inaccessible, if you need to make an urgent certificate claim request, certificates for Functional Skills qualifications with internal assessment only can be requested on the interim Portal support webpage. 

Please note that for Functional Skills qualifications containing an external assessment, the online assessment results will display in Surpass but they won’t currently display in the Portal. Therefore, we’re unable to certificate any learner who completed some or all of their qualification online. We’re working to bring our Portal online to customers as soon as possible, which will allow us to resolve this.   

This means that if your learner completed an online assessment after 26 November 2025, it’s unlikely that we are able to process the certificate currently.  

If a learner completed paper-based assessments, we should be able to issue a certificate but this may be outside of our usual timeframes.   

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. 

Can I still access the Portal? 

Our Portal is unavailable for the time being. We will provide you with a further update once you are able to access this again. Please rest assured that restoring customer access to the Portal is our top priority and our IT team is working tirelessly to deliver this. 

Why is my learner not appearing in Surpass to make a booking?  

Learners will only appear in Surpass if a registration has been made in the Portal. If the learner has not been registered, you won’t be able to book the learner for their assessment. To register a learner, contact us via the interim Portal support webpage. 

It says I can make a booking in Surpass for Essential Digital Skills – can I do this?  

No, any bookings made for an Essential Digital Skills qualification in Surpass will not be recognised or logged as an official booking. 

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]  

When will systems be back online?  

We’re unable to provide a timeline for this at the moment, but our team is working around the clock to return operations to normal. We will provide you with a further update once we have more information. 

Following the cyber security incident, our Portal remains unavailable. As we would normally share assessment materials for this assessment through the Portal, we have made alternative arrangements to allow your learners to complete the assessment as scheduled. 

If you have a booking in January, we will send instructions by email to the person who made the assessment booking or an exams contact, on how to access assessment papers. This will include details on how to download, print (if required), and how to store these papers securely, following all usual regulations. You’ll receive a personalised SharePoint where you should upload completed learner evidence by the submission deadline, along with the invigilator register and learner cover sheets.  

Please continue to follow the existing rules and processes for late bookings, reasonable adjustments, and special considerations, and make any requests via the usual webforms.  

 How do I access CACHE assessment materials while the Portal is unavailable?  

We’ll share assessment papers, invigilator register templates, blank cover sheets and guidance documents with you via a secure SharePoint link, which we’ll send through email. These documents must be handled and stored securely in line with assessment regulations. We’ll also share details on how and where to upload completed digital assessment evidence within this email.   

What should I do if learners are registered but don’t have a booking for the assessment?  

We will accept late bookings, as normal, when submitted through the online booking form.  If you require access to the assessment materials, please contact our Customer Support team only after submitting the booking request, and this will be shared securely. Please note that rules around themes and number of attempts remain and can be found in the relevant qualification specification.  

How do I request reasonable adjustments or modified papers?  

Please continue to follow the existing rules and processes for reasonable adjustments and special considerations, and make any requests via the usual webforms.  

If you haven’t yet requested a modified paper, you can print the assessment material onto the required colour or size using the secure link provided.  

Will paper-based assessments take place in the usual way?   

Yes, all paper-based assessments will be printed and dispatched to centres as normal, and must be returned using the normal white label return process, using the label provided, as outlined here.  

Can I access materials for standardisation and administration training? 

Please visit this webpage for more information.