Amending our Taking Regulatory Action policy

From:: Ofqual
Published: 20 February 2025
Last updated: 30 October 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

Read the full outcome

Decisions: Supporting compliance and taking regulatory action

Ref: Ofqual/22/7257

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Detail of outcome

There was broad support for our proposals and we have decided to adopt the revised policy on which we consulted. We have made a number of minor edits to improve the clarity of the policy alongside some more notable changes in response to the feedback we received. The substantive changes we have made are set out in this document.

Feedback received

Analysis: Supporting compliance and taking regulatory action

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Detail of feedback received

Respondents broadly supported the changes but requested more examples and practical illustrations to clarify how regulatory tools would be applied. They stressed the importance of proportionality, particularly for smaller awarding organisations, and highlighted the need for fairness, impartiality, and independence in enforcement and appeals, including panel composition.

Opinions varied about the publication of regulatory actions; some respondents were concerned about reputational impact while others suggested greater transparency. Respondents also called for safeguards around sharing confidential information.

There was general support for tools such as undertakings, rebukes, and directions, though respondents sought clarity on their use. Questions were raised about how fines and costs would be calculated, including the appropriateness of using turnover as a factor.

A comprehensive analysis of all consultation responses, including a summary, is available in the consultation analysis document.

Original consultation

Summary

This consultation sets out our proposals to complete the work we began in 2019 to update our policy ‘Taking Regulatory Action’.

This consultation was held on another website.

This consultation ran from
9:30am on 20 February 2025 to 11:45pm on 15 May 2025

Consultation description

We consulted between October and December 2019 on changes we then proposed to make to the TRA policy. We published our decisions on 28 May 2021, following a significant delay caused by the pandemic.

In this consultation we explain:

further information about how we intend to implement the decisions we published in May 2021
that we have decided not to proceed with the development of an approach to using fixed penalties
proposals to introduce amendments to the TRA policy which were not included in the 2019 consultation, which reflect our current and intended approach

We also explain changes we are making to the way we make decisions. We are not consulting on those changes and have included them for transparency and because they form part of the context for some of the proposals.

We have incorporated some of the proposals about which we consulted awarding organisations in 2021, as well as some of the suggestions made by awarding organisations in their responses. There are certain matters we proposed in 2021 which we no longer wish to pursue. Those matters do not appear in the new version for the purposes of this consultation.

We have published the proposed revised policy with this consultation. Changes or new sections are highlighted in bold or in grey panels.

We are consulting on the wording of the proposed revised policy as well as the specific new proposals.

Documents