Apply to have your qualifications regulated
Who and what Ofqual regulates, how to apply to be regulated and what happens when you want to stop being regulated.
Applies to England
We are redesigning the digital service for applying to have your qualifications regulated (also called Ofqual recognition). Providing your feedback will help us improve this service.
Awarding organisations can choose to be regulated by Ofqual. If you want us to regulate some or all of your qualifications, you can apply to become an Ofqual recognised awarding organisation for those qualifications. You will need to ensure you can demonstrate a full understanding of what being recognised by Ofqual means: it’s a major undertaking that could bring significant benefits to your organisation but it means you have to comply with Ofqual’s rules at all times. This will have an impact on your organisation and how you operate.
The role of awarding organisations
An awarding organisation designs, develops, delivers and awards qualifications, including in some cases apprenticeship end-point assessments (EPAs). Qualifications usually test knowledge, skills and understanding of a subject and are awarded to learners who demonstrate the specified level of attainment, which is set by the awarding organisation.
Awarding organisations offer qualifications to meet the needs of the schools, colleges and training providers that buy and teach the courses that lead to these qualifications. Awarding organisations put in place the exams, tests and other assessments that students take to achieve their qualifications.
A good awarding organisation will combine expertise in a subject area or sector, with expertise in designing and developing qualifications and assessments, effective operational delivery of assessments and appropriate governance.
Main benefits
The benefits of being a recognised awarding organisation include:
- the possibility of the Department for Education considering your qualifications for public funding and teaching in state and publicly funded schools and colleges
- providing confidence to qualification users that your organisation has the capacity and competence to develop and offer high-quality qualifications
- being able to use the Ofqual logo, as a recognised mark of quality, on certificates for your regulated qualifications; the Ofqual quality mark is valued internationally
- international regulation of your qualifications, as well as in England, so long as that they continue to be offered and taken in England; note that you must also continue to meet Ofqual rules and requirements even when you offer your qualifications internationally
- the listing of your regulated qualifications on the Register of Regulated Qualifications and the ‘find a regulated qualification’ service on GOV.UK– an important resource for those wanting to find a suitable qualification
- the ability to apply to offer apprenticeship EPAs where Ofqual is the regulator
Apprenticeship end-point assessments
Ofqual regulates apprenticeship EPAs. If you want to offer EPAs regulated by Ofqual, you will need to be recognised by us. Each organisation is considered for recognition in the context of the number and type of EPAs they want to offer. For more information on how Ofqual regulates apprenticeship EPAs, read Ofqual regulation of Apprenticeship End-Point Assessment: a guide for awarding organisations.
Once you have achieved Ofqual recognition for apprenticeship EPAs, you will need to create a Department for Education (DfE) Apprenticeship Service Account, if you do not already have one. You will also need a UK provider reference number (UKPRN) issued by the UK Register of Learning Providers.
For more details, visit the Apprenticeship assessment service.
Apply for recognition
We have a process to decide whether you can become a recognised awarding organisation. Further details are in the supporting information document.
Before starting an application, be aware that there are very clear limits to what we regulate. For example, we do not regulate training courses that only certify that someone attended a course but do not make judgements about an attendee’s level of attainment.
Our privacy statement describes how your data will be used and processed as part of the application process.
Starting the process
First, read our criteria for recognition, our guidance for the criteria and our supporting information. If you want to understand more about what being regulated by Ofqual would mean if you were to achieve Ofqual recognition, please review our rules.
If you think being an Ofqual regulated awarding organisation is the right choice for you, apply through our recognition service using the ‘start now’ button below. You will need to set up an account to make your application.
You may wish to read this guide for support to set up a gateway account and multi-factor authentication.
Next steps
Once you have set up an account, you will initially be invited to a webinar. If you wish to continue with considering applying to be recognised by Ofqual, you will be offered a meeting with Ofqual staff. This meeting should take place before starting your application. The meeting will help you understand our requirements and the application process. We will talk about:
- what it means to be an Ofqual regulated awarding organisation so you are fully aware of our expectations
- the types of qualifications you intend to offer
- how you will ensure quality
- how you intend to operate as an awarding organisation once recognised
- what evidence we would need to see from you
Following the meeting, if you want to proceed with an application, we will provide you with access to the application form. We can continue to advise you to ensure you are providing sufficient supporting evidence.
When you are ready, you should use the gateway to submit your application and evidence. We will then review your application against our criteria for recognition. If your application and supporting information indicates that you are capable of meeting our criteria, we would normally invite you to discuss your application with a recognition panel, after which Ofqual will decide whether to recognise you as an awarding organisation.
Making changes as an existing awarding organisation
If you would like to make a change to your current scope of recognition, please log into The Portal and navigate to the ‘My Organisation’ page where you can view your scope of recognition and apply to expand your scope of recognition to offer regulated qualifications:
- in a wider range of sector subject areas
- at different levels than you are currently regulated for
- that have specific conditions or criteria
Please refer to the guidance in the Portal should you wish to expand your scope of recognition.
Surrender and partial surrender
If you wish to surrender part or all of your scope of recognition, please send us the following information through a ‘contact the regulator’ message.
- Details of whether you want to surrender some of your scope of recognition or want to surrender your whole scope, and therefore no longer want to be regulated by us.
- Details of the qualification types, SSAs, levels, and/or specific qualifications you no longer want to be regulated.
- Confirmation that you are following General Condition D6 (Management of the withdrawal of qualifications).
- Your proposed timeline for the surrender.
We will review the information you provide and respond as soon as we can either to explain that we need further information, to set a surrender date or to explain when we expect to be able to set a surrender date. It is important to remember that the surrender date is set and managed by Ofqual, and we may vary that date where we consider this is necessary, for example to protect learners.
Updates to this page
Published 21 September 2012Last updated 14 February 2025 + show all updates
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The language has been adjusted to make it easier to understand. A 'start now' button has been added to make it clearer where to start the application process. The privacy policy has now been provided in HTML.
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Updated information under the subheadings 'Main benefits' and 'Apprenticeship end-point assessments'.
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This page has been updated to remove reference to the Department for Education's Register of End-Point Assessment Organisations (RoEPAO), which is now replaced by the Apprenticeship Providers and Assessment Register (APAR).
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Update to requirements for offering apprenticeship end-point assessments.
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Removed old guidance attachment. Applied link to updated guide in body text
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Updated 'How-to-guide: Recognition gateway' document.
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Change to Apprenticeship end-point assessments section, updated to reflect change in EQA arrangements. Recognition guidance document updated.
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Updated the guidance for existing awarding organisations.
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Updated link provided in 'Apprenticeship end-point assessments' section.
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Guidance document updated for setting up a gateway account.
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Updated the supporting videos.
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Made clearer what happens after you submit your application to us, and what standards you will be evaluated against.
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Updates to recognition process, formatting and new logo
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Removed 'Apply to expand the scope of your recognition' and 'End your recognition' sections and replaced them with a new 'If you are an existing awarding organisation' section.
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Added new becoming recognised video
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Updated recognition process - the first stage is now to book a meeting with Ofqual before filling in an application form.
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Updated links to the new application forms.
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Noted the application form will be replaced soon.
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Expanded the information on applying to offer more qualifications.
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Amended to make it easier to follow and include information about end-point assessments.
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Added link to Recognition explained video
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Updated links to point to the new guidance document and new forms.
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Clarified when to complete the recognition form if you are already recognised.
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First published.