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 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. 

Will 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.  

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 from 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? 

From Monday 9 February you’ll have access to the 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.

I need to claim certificates and can’t wait until Monday 9 February, what do I do? 

We communicated on Friday 30 January that there would be a break in service between close of play on Monday 2 February when we closed down the interim workaround until Monday 9 February when the Portal reopens. The SLA to process certificates through the manual process was 10 working days, so claiming through the Portal on Monday 9 February should not impact the timelines even thought the service is not available for a few days.

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?

Yes, an interim solution for making certificate claims is currently available until 5pm on Monday 2 February and will then close to ensure we have enough time to validate your data and process any remaining requests before the Portal is back online for customer use on Monday 9 February.

If you need to make an urgent certificate claim request before 5pm on Monday 2 February, you will be able to submit this request via the interim Portal support webpage .

Can I still register learners?

Yes, an interim solution for registering learners is currently available until 5pm on Monday 2 February and will then close to ensure we have enough time to validate your data and process any remaining requests before the Portal is back online for customer use on Monday 9 February.

If you need to make any urgent learner registrations before 5pm on Monday 2 February, you will be able to do so via the interim Portal support webpage .

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)?

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. This interim process will close at 4pm on Friday 6 February, Portal will be live for customer use from Monday 9 February and you will be able to download the NEA in the usual manner.

How can I access V Cert past papers for mock exams or other preparations?

If you're delivering our V Cert (Level 1/2 Technical Awards) and are looking to access past papers whilst the Portal is unavailable, please contact our Customer Support team via email ([email protected]) so that we can send you a secure Sharepoint link to your materials. We will be working through these requests as quickly as possible - thank you for your patience.

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 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:   

• 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.   

From Monday 9 February all online and paper-based results will be  be available on the Portal. Our paper-based results will no longer be provided via a SharePoint link however, online results will still be available in Surpass as well as the Portal. 

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 up until 5pm on Monday 2 February, The Portal will be accessible to making bookings from Monday 9 February please ensure that you submit all your urgent bookings through the interim Portal support webpage before the deadlines above.  

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 until 5pm Monday 2 February. 

Please note that for Functional Skills qualifications containing an external assessment,  the online assessment results will display in Surpass. Any certificate claims made by 5pm on Monday 2 February will be processed. From Monday 9 February the Portal will be 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.   

Can I still access the Portal?   

Our Portal is unavailable for the time being, however, it will be available for you to use, with full functionality, from Monday 9 February.  

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.  From Monday 9 February the Portal will be available with full functionality allowing registrations to take place and learners will automatically transfer into Surpass. 

I can access our paper-based results but there is no candidate breakdown available?  

Due to the cyber security incident, we did not have access to key systems which captured the item level data required to provide candidate breakdowns. We made the difficult decision to continue to mark our paper-based assessments so that results could be shared with centres via a SharePoint link which meant that item level data was not captured during marking.  

All assessments marked before the cyber security incident will have candidate breakdowns as these were marked in the system before we no longer had access.  

Any assessments booked from Monday 9 February will have candidate breakdowns available as we will have full functionality and integration of our systems.  

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.   

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]   

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.