A message from our CEO, David Gallagher:

NCFE is actively responding to a cyber security incident after we discovered suspicious activity on our systems late last week. While this remains ongoing, we wanted to make customers and stakeholders aware of this incident at the earliest opportunity.

We immediately took our systems offline as a precautionary measure – and as a result, we are experiencing disruption to our network. Our teams, supported by external experts, are working hard to get our systems back up and running as soon as possible.

As a result of the actions we’ve taken to respond to the incident, our phone lines, live chat and Portal are unavailable, for the time being. We also proactively suspended our email system as a precaution, so NCFE colleagues are currently unable to access and respond to any emails you may have sent to us. We’ll let you know when these services are fully online again.

Importantly, this will not impact T Level assessments due to take place this week and next week. On-demand Functional Skills assessments can still be booked through Surpass, but paper-based assessments are unavailable, for the time being. All face-to-face and remote assessments for end-point assessment for week commencing Monday 1 December will be cancelled and rescheduled. Our teams are working to highlight alternative assessment dates, and we’ll be in touch shortly to organise rebooking assessments.

Next steps

I am sorry for any inconvenience or concern this incident may cause. Please rest assured that our team is working around the clock to return operations to normal.

Regarding details of the incident itself, we have launched a comprehensive investigation into what happened. That remains in its early stages, and there are many questions to which we don’t yet have answers. In the meantime, our teams have prepared some answers below to support with initial enquiries but please do keep an eye on this webpage where updates will be regularly posted. If you have an urgent query you can complete the web form on this page for priority customer enquiries on topics such as imminent external assessments, EQA visits and learner registrations.

Once again I apologise for the inconvenience, thank you for your support and patience as we respond to this incident.

Yours sincerely
David Gallagher
Chief Executive

Please use the web form on this page to submit only priority customer enquiries on topics such as imminent external assessments, EQA visits, and learner registrations. Our teams will get back to you as quickly as possible.

FAQs

Assessments, results, registrations and term-time checkpoints

Is my assessment going ahead?

T Level assessments due to take place this week will go ahead as planned.

On-demand Functional Skills assessments can still be booked through Surpass, but paper-based assessments are unavailable, for the time being.

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

When our systems are back up and running, you’ll be able to upload your students’ evidence.

Can I claim my learners’ certificates?

Our Portal is unavailable, for the time being, so you’re unable to claim your learners’ certificates at the moment. As soon as our Portal is available again, you'll be able to claim certificates as normal.

Can I still register learners?

Our Portal is unavailable, for the time being, so you’re unable to register learners at the moment. All late registration fees and late assessment booking fees will be waived during this period until the Portal is available.

Will I be able to complete my term-time checkpoint from Monday 8 December when the window opens?

We're delaying the opening of our first term-time checkpoint until Monday 5 January.

Our new window to complete your first term-time checkpoint will be Monday 5 to Friday 30 January 2026. Further information on how to complete your checkpoints will be made available once the window opens.

Visits and reviews

I have one or more of the below meetings booked this week - are they still going ahead?

• EQA review
• moderator visit or meeting
• meeting with the Provider Development team
• Teams or in person meeting with my Account Manager
• other meeting with NCFE colleagues

During this period all reviews, meetings and visits are on hold unless we’ve been in touch to confirm otherwise. We’ll contact you to reschedule as soon as we’re able to.

Getting in contact

Can I contact NCFE?

Our phone lines, email and live chat services are currently unavailable, for the time being, as well as the access to the Portal. We’ll let you know when these are fully online again. We appreciate you may have urgent queries that require a response so please complete the web form where you can submit priority customer enquiries on topics such as imminent external assessments, EQA reviews and learner registrations.

EPA assessments and results

Will scheduled EPA assessments go ahead?

All face to face and remote assessments for week commencing Monday 1 December will be cancelled and rescheduled. Our teams will be contacting all apprentices and providers to confirm the assessments that will be cancelled. We are also working to highlight alternative assessment dates and we’ll be in touch shortly to organise rebooking assessments.

Any online tests booked using Surpass/Secure Client will still go ahead, but please be aware our EPA teams will be unable to support at this time with any queries or technical issues.

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.

Will there be a delay to results being released?

Yes, there will be a short delay to release of results. We’ll release all pending results as soon as possible.

Can I register learners and request gateway on epaPRO?

Yes, you can still access epaPRO 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.

Meetings

I have one or more of the below meetings booked this week - are they still going ahead?

• Teams meeting with my Relationship Manager/co-ordinator
• Teams meeting with EPA Sales team
• other meeting with NCFE colleagues

During this period all meetings are on hold unless we’ve been in touch to confirm otherwise. We’ll contact you to reschedule as soon as we’re able to.

Skills Assessment

I need support with one of the below Skills Assessment platform queries - what should I do?

• support with a system query
• gaining additional credits for learners due to take an assessment
  - Skills Assessment renewal

If you have any urgent questions about our Skills Assessment platform, please fill in our urgent enquiries web form.