Social media use

Ofqual’s social media policy explains how we use our channels, interact with followers and manage content.

Our channels

How we use our channels

We use our social media channels to share information about qualifications, exams, assessments, and regulation with the education sector.  

Our audience includes students, teachers, schools, colleges, exams officers, parents, and stakeholders.

We post: 

  • statements, announcements, statistics and publications 
  • information on awarding and regulation  
  • opening, closing and outcomes of public consultations and surveys 
  • information to help our audience prepare for exams and assessments that we regulate 
  • speeches, visits and events including those hosted by Ofqual, such as webinars 
  • the latest content on our website, blog, and YouTube channel  
  • information from other government departments, stakeholders, organisations and groups we think will be of interest to our followers 

We will not use these channels to: 

  • discuss party political issues 
  • automatically follow back any followers to our pages or profiles. If we do follow, like or share posts from other accounts, websites or sources it does not imply any kind of endorsement.

We aim to post regularly on our channels, but the frequency isn’t set.

Other channels

We may use alternative channels to promote our messages. Where we do, the same moderation policy applies to these channels.

Accessibility

We aim to make sure that our social media content is easy to understand and accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities and impairments.

Where platforms allow, we aim to do this by:

  • including alt-text for social media posts with visuals 
  • including subtitles and text alternatives in animations and videos  
  • designing social media assets such as graphics with accessibility in mind – from the fonts to the colours used 
  • providing transcripts of audio only files such as podcasts 
  • applying plain English to our posts and using full links

Messages and replies

Our social media channels are managed by the Communications team who review messages and posts intermittently during office hours, Monday to Friday (not including public holidays).

We value feedback from our followers. While we may not respond to individual mentions or direct messages, we try to pass on feedback to the appropriate departments in Ofqual. We encourage individuals to contact our public enquiries team with general queries.

We may escalate messages we consider high priority for further action. While the definition of high priority will be judged on a case-by-case basis, it includes significant threats, data leaks or serious rule breaches.

Moderation 

Our social media team moderates our social media channels from Monday to Friday during office hours (9am to 5pm).

We reserve the right to remove or suspend comments that are inappropriate. For serious breaches, we reserve the right to prevent users from posting further comments. Where required, we will report content on individual platforms.

Action will be taken on comments that: 

  • are abusive, malicious, offensive or threatening  
  • breach any of the terms of any of the social media platforms themselves 
  • are in violation of any law or regulation (including any libel, condoning illegal activity or break copyright)
  • make any commercial endorsement or promotion of any product, service or publication not relevant to our posts 
  • contain personal information in comments, such as addresses, phone numbers or email addresses  
  • impersonate or falsely claim to represent a person or an organisation 
  • share disinformation and misinformation  
  • are spam, including persistent negative and abusive tweeting in which the aim is to provoke a response

Media enquiries

If you are a journalist, we encourage you to contact our press office rather than use social media.

You can contact them on 0300 303 3014 or email on ofqual.media@ofqual.gov.uk. 

The press office is open from 9am to 5pm daily, and out of hours for urgent enquiries.

Public enquiries

For general enquiries around qualifications, assessments and awarding organisations we regulate, please contact our public enquiries team.

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