We’re pleased to share that we’re making strong progress in restoring key services from the recent cyber security incident. Thank you for your patience and support during this time.
If you have any queries, please read our FAQs below or contact 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.
Please note that our office will be closing for the Christmas period from Wednesday 24 December at midday and reopening on Friday 2 January at 8:30am. We will respond to any emails or calls we receive from you during this period as soon as possible upon our return.
Update on the Portal
We know how important the functionality of the Portal is for you and wanted to provide an update on this. We now have a team available to support you with administering these Portal functions:
You can access this support by visiting our interim Portal support webpage, where you can complete the relevant webform for the Portal function you need. The webforms capture all the information you would usually provide when completing registrations or bookings on the Portal and gives our teams all the details we need to then complete the process on your behalf.
We apologise again for the disruption caused and we’ll continue to keep you updated with any further progress as and when this is made.
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?
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?
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:
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 emailing [email protected]. We will only be able to send this to a centre email address, and the person making the request should be the person who would normally access the NEA from the Portal. 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].
Our colleagues are currently working without access to some key systems, which means they may only be able to provide general guidance and limited support.
Please be assured that our teams are working around the clock to restore full service as quickly and safely as possible.
Please note that our office will be closing for the Christmas period from Wednesday 24 December at midday and reopening on Friday 2 January at 8:30am. We will respond to any emails or calls we receive from you during this period as soon as possible upon our return.
Will scheduled EPA assessments go ahead?
We’re planning for all assessments to go ahead as scheduled from Monday 8 December. Where this is not possible, we’ll contact your provider’s main point of contact and the learner directly using the details we hold in epaPRO.
Please be assured that rescheduling any cancelled apprentice assessments for the earliest possible date is a priority. We’ve already started to contact apprentices to reschedule their assessments, and this will continue to be a focus for the upcoming weeks.
Any online tests booked using Surpass/Secure Client will still go ahead, but please be aware support from our EPA teams will remain limited while our telephone and email systems remain offline. If you have an urgent query, you can reach our team via a web form on our dedicated service continuity support webpage.
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?
We have begun releasing results for assessments that took place prior to Thursday 27 November, and these will continue to be issued over the coming week.
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. We are working our way through Gateway requests so you will start to receive updates for EPA shortly.
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 and our Approvals team will process your application when able. Please be aware that our normal service level agreement is not in place during this time.
How long will it take for my centre to be approved (as a new centre)?
Our Approvals team is reviewing applications within five working days to complete initial checks and arranging provisional approval dates as soon as possible.
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.
We understand that this delay may have impacted you and your learners, and we’re sorry again for the inconvenience this may have caused.
When and how will I receive my learners’ results?
We let you know earlier this month that we were unable to release Functional Skills results as we had taken our systems offline as a precautionary measure following a cyber security incident. We appreciate your patience while we’re working to ensure all results are issued accurately and securely.
The results for on-screen assessments were released from Wednesday 10 December, and you can access these in Surpass.
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.
We’ll release the results for assessments sat between Friday 28 November and Friday 12 December (where papers have been returned within SLA) on Friday 9 January.
To support the timely release of results, we’ll send you a secure link to a spreadsheet containing your learners’ results. Once the Portal is fully restored, you will be able to access results there in the usual manner.
Any assessments sat from Monday 12 January onwards will follow our standard six-working-day turnaround for results.
I can’t see the results I was expecting to receive, where are they?
This could be due to filters within the Surpass screen, so please ensure there are no date filters in place. 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.
My learner has failed. What can I do?
You can book a resit for them in Surpass.
My learner has passed and needs their certificate, what can we do?
Because the Portal is unavailable we can’t issue certificates right now. If you have learners who urgently require a certificate for progression, please contact our Customer Support team by email at [email protected]
My papers have arrived but without personalised learner details, what shall we do?
To allow previous paper based bookings to continue we have printed and dispatched papers without our usual learner personalisation. Please use these papers with your learners as planned, but ensure thorough checks are in place so that the correct learner sits the correct paper intended for them.
For maths assessments you must ensure your learner sits the correct, matched versions of papers A and B and these remain together for return.
You may receive a blank invigilators register, too. If so, please add all details yourself and return to NCFE fully completed.
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 view my results in the Portal?
Our Portal is unavailable for the time being, so you’re unable to view your learners’ results in the Portal. You can view results for on-screen assessments in Surpass shortly, and results for paper-based assessments will be sent through a secure link to a spreadsheet..
What systems can I access?
You can access Surpass, SecureClient, and the NCFE website.
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.
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 will not be able to book the learner for their assessment.
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.
Will there be support available if I have issues when sitting an online assessment?
You can reach our Customer Support team by phone on 0191 239 8000 or by email at [email protected], 8.30am – 5.00pm from Monday to Thursday and 8.30am – 4.30pm on Friday. Please note that our office will be closing for the Christmas period from Wednesday 24 December at midday and reopening on Friday 2 January at 8:30am. We will respond to any emails or calls we receive from you during this period as soon as possible upon our return. If you encounter any issues, you can access troubleshooting information on the Surpass website here. Further guidance on the administration, invigilation and installation of our online assessments can be found on our website here.
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.
