How to get funding approval

The stages of the funding approval process.

This section explains the stages of this round of funding approvals, for qualifications that will become available for delivery from 1 August 2026. There is also an overview of the funding approval process.

Stage 1: awarding organisation registers and submits qualification proposals

You will be given the opportunity to inform us of the qualifications you intend to submit, in advance of the submission round opening on 10 March 2025.

If you have not registered an interest in an area in scope, you can still submit qualifications for funding approval. You will need to do this by 17:00 on 21 March 2025.

Having information about qualifications that you plan to submit for approval will help us to give you the best information.

If you plan to submit an AAQ, you should email qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk by 7 March to request access to Galaxkey. You need to email us the names and email addresses of those people in your organisation that need access to Galaxkey.

You will need to submit technical qualifications using Cognito Forms. This form will be made available when the submission round opens on Monday 10 March 2025.

Stage 2: awarding organisation submits qualification for funding approval

You will be able to submit qualifications in scope for this round of funding approvals between 10 March 2025 and 17:00 on 21 March 2025.

We will not accept submissions after the deadline has passed at 17:00 on 21 March 2025. If you think it is not reasonably practicable to meet the submission deadline, you should email qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk at the time of the event. We will need evidence of:

  • technical failure (either with your systems or DfE systems)
  • exceptional circumstances, for example a natural disaster

We will review this evidence and decide if we will accept your late submission.

Check your Ofqual scope of recognition

Before submitting your qualification for funding approval:

We will require confirmation from Ofqual that the qualification is within your scope of recognition to begin reviewing your qualification for funding approval.

If the qualification is not within your scope of recognition, it will not be considered for funding approval.    

Submission form

You will be asked to upload your qualifications data to GalaxKey (for Alternative Academic Qualifications) or Cognito Forms (for technical qualifications).

We are currently developing a new digital platform to allow you to submit your qualification proposals and qualifications data. We will look for AOs to help test and pilot this in due course.

We will share further information on how to take part in the development of the digital platform and the final product in due course, if you are interested in being part of system testing, please email qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk to register your interest.

Evidence to submit

For all qualifications you will need to submit:

  • a qualification specification
  • evidence of demand from education and training institutions
  • your assessment strategy (including any supporting evidence it refers to)
  • sample assessment materials
  • a list of any requests for exemptions from Ofqual’s qualification level conditions, where the regulations permit these

If you are submitting a technical qualification, you will also need to submit the necessary additional information as outlined in approvals categories and associated criteria and guidance.

If you are submitting a small AAQ, you will also need to submit:

  • a purpose statement
  • evidence of support from higher education providers
  • evidence demonstrating the qualification is necessary

We will accept letters from education and training institutions that provide evidence for more than one funding approval criteria, such as evidence of demand and evidence that the institution supports the qualification.

We will accept evidence you have prepared for the previous submission round in 2024 (known as cycle 2).

Stage 3: DfE applies funding approval criteria

We review submissions against the criteria which are appropriate for the type of qualification.

Level 3 alternative academic qualifications

DfE reviews submissions to confirm the alternative academic qualification:

  • is necessary
  • supports progression to high-quality higher education courses that deliver strong outcomes

We will review AAQs against the following:

DfE will check to confirm the AAQ is necessary and supports progression to higher education. Ofqual will review submissions and provide feedback to DfE. We will take this into account when making our approval decisions and may decide not to approve a qualification for funding if we believe that issues raised by Ofqual have not been sufficiently addressed.

We will use Ofqual’s feedback and the application of the offer-specific funding approval criteria to decide if the qualification will be approved for funding, and for which offers.

If we need further information, we will request this from you.

Level 3 technical qualifications

Technical qualifications will be reviewed against the statutory tests to approve technical qualifications in line with A2D5 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (ASCLA), with employer input as necessary, considering feedback from Ofqual.

Where a qualification is approved as a technical qualification, we will consider the qualification for DfE funding approval.

Where a qualification is not approved as a technical qualification, DfE will not consider it for funding approval.

DfE will begin checking and assessing the evidence that you have provided against our funding approval criteria, during the review of your qualification against the criteria for technical qualifications. This is so that:

  • we can ask you to clarify or provide missing or extra information
  • there are no delays to DfE making the funding approval decisions

If we need more information, we will ask for it at the same time as other feedback is requested where possible.

DfE will review technical qualifications against the following funding approval criteria:

We will use the outcomes of the technical qualification review to inform our funding approval decision, including which offers the qualification will be approved for. We will consider:

  • the category in which the technical qualification has been approved
  • how appropriate the qualification is for the 16 to 19 offer for the relevant age group

We will not approve for 16- to 19-year-olds, occupational entry qualifications that are covered by T Levels.

We may decide not to approve a qualification for funding if we believe that issues raised on the technical qualification review, including by Ofqual, have not been sufficiently addressed.

Regulatory action

Where Ofqual informs us of any relevant ongoing or impending regulatory action being taken with regard to a relevant qualification or awarding organisation, we will take account of this information when making our funding approval decisions.

We will consider the specific circumstances of the case. We may delay making a final funding approval decision until we are satisfied that any relevant ongoing or impending regulatory action has concluded.

Stage 4: awarding organisations add qualifications to the Ofqual register of regulated qualifications

You must add qualifications to Ofqual’s register of regulated qualifications.

You must complete all the necessary information on Ofqual’s register, so that we can complete our funding approval review and confirm the outcome.

You must also ensure the qualification meets the titling requirements for that type of qualification.

We will remind you to upload qualifications to Ofqual’s register of regulated qualifications closer to the time.

Further guidance on assigning information SSA is available in the non-statutory guidance on assigning qualifications to sector subject areas.

Information needed in Ofqual’s register

The list below describes the information in the Ofqual register of regulated qualifications that DfE will need as part of its funding approval process, and the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will need to set a funding rate or maximum loan amount:

  • qualification reference number
  • qualification title
  • qualification level
  • awarding organisation name
  • offered in England
  • funded in England
  • age
  • qualification type
  • sector subject area tier 2
  • guided learning hours
  • total qualification time (TQT)
  • operational start date
  • operational end date
  • certification end date
  • link to qualification specification

You do not need to assign an operational end date or certification end date to a qualification when you upload it to the register. If you provide this information, it could impact the funding approval end date that we set for this qualification.

We will notify you of the dates for when you will need to add qualifications submitted in the spring funding approval round to the Ofqual register of regulated qualifications. You will need to add your qualification:

  • as a new qualification
  • as the qualification type Alternative Academic Qualification or Technical Occupation Qualification
  • with a qualification start date of 1 August 2026

Stage 5: DfE informs you of the funding approval outcomes

We will inform you by email if your qualification has been approved for funding, in late summer 2025.

We will email the named contact in the submission form. If a qualification is not approved for funding for one or more offers, we will tell you which funding approval criteria the qualification did not meet.

We will tell you the outcome of funding approval decisions before we publish them, so you have time to prepare communications for providers. You must keep this confidential in your organisation until we publish the list of approved qualifications.

Stage 6: awarding organisation asks for a review of funding approval outcomes  

If a qualification is not approved for funding for one or more qualification offers, you can ask us to review that outcome on the basis that the funding approval criteria has not been applied correctly. This includes the qualification-type funding approval criteria for that qualification.

We will notify you of the dates to seek a procedural review when we inform you of the funding approval outcome as outlined in stage 5.

You must make all requests by emailing qualifications.approval@education.gov.uk with the relevant evidence.

We may consult the other organisations involved in the approval process as part of the procedural review.

Any request to review the funding approval outcome would need to be based on one or more of the following reasons. We:

  • failed to follow our published processes and such failure could have led to a different decision
  • made a factual error that could have led to a different decision
  • have not taken into account evidence provided by you in your submission and such failure could have led to a different decision

As part of your request to review the funding approval outcome, you must:

  • include the qualification’s full title and qualification number
  • say which offer you believe the qualification should be approved for
  • explain how the qualification meets the funding approval criteria, addressing the specific criteria that were outlined as having not been met
  • identify how the evidence you provided in your submission demonstrates that the qualification meets the funding approval criteria for the specific offer for which you would like the qualification to be considered

The review process is not an opportunity to submit additional or new evidence.

Parts of the process which are not subject to the review

The following aspects of the approval process will not be subject to review.

The list of SSAs and subjects specified as eligible for funding will not be subject to review.

We reserve the right to not approve a qualification for funding if we have concerns about it meeting any of the approval criteria in this manual, or if information about the qualification is not available to us when we review the qualification.

Ofqual will be responsible for ongoing regulation of qualifications approved through this process. Ofqual’s regulatory responsibilities, including whether an awarding organisation has scope of recognition for a qualification, are not in scope of this procedural review process.

Stage 7: DfE publishes qualification funding approval information

We plan to publish the outcomes of the spring 2025 submissions in September 2025, with qualifications approved from August 2026.

When we publish the decision, you may tell providers about it, as explained in stage 5.

The update will be made available on the DfE list of qualifications approved for funding to show which level 3 AAQs and technical qualifications have been approved for funding for 2026 to 2027.

Qualifications approved of this spring 2025 submission round will have a funding approval start date from 1 August 2026.

If you have said the qualification will be operational after 1 August 2026, the funding approval start date will match the operational start date that you have set.

All qualifications approved for funding in this spring 2025 submission round will have a funding approval end date of 31 July 2028. A funding approval end date will be set before 31 July 2028 if an operational end date is set before this date.

Stage 8: ESFA updates find a learning aim

ESFA will update find a learning aim to add funding validity, and funding rates or maximum loan amounts, for qualifications that been approved for funding.

This will happen after DfE publishes the list of qualifications approved for funding.