Guidance

PTQ Outcomes: Qualification Registrations and Outcomes

Updated 4 August 2023

Applies to England

Introduction

In order to fulfil our regulatory and accreditation functions as set out in the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009, we require awarding organisations to provide exams delivery data for regulated qualifications.

What data will be collected?

Data should relate only to vocational and technical qualifications (VTQs) that are included in the Department for Education’s performance tables (PTQs) for the academic year being submitted. More specifically, these are: Technical Awards, Applied Generals, Technical Certificates and Technical Levels.

When will data be collected?

Data will be collected according to the reporting schedule which is agreed and maintained by Ofqual’s data services team.

Updates to formats and guidance

This guidance document will be updated regularly. Any changes to procedure will be incorporated into the guidance document.

How to submit your data

Your data should be submitted to us in CSV format. Please refer to the ‘Connecting to Ofqual’s data portal and uploading data’ document on our webpage to help you submit your files to us. If you need to ask us about a data submission please do contact the Data Services team by emailing [email protected], please do not send your data files via email to Data Services or to any other Ofqual email address, or via Contact the Regulator in the Portal.

Uploaded data

Once files have been successfully uploaded, the data will be validated against a set of validation rules. These are detailed in the sections below. If validation is successful, the data is automatically transferred into our systems and you will receive email confirmation. If the file is unsuccessful at any stage of validation you will receive an email with details of the validation failure. Please correct your file and resubmit it.

Amendments to data

Ofqual staff will not alter data once it has been submitted. If you find an error or omission after you’ve had a successful upload, please notify us by emailing [email protected]. We need to reject the existing submission before you can upload a new file.

How your data will be used

This data will be used to undertake our regulatory activities and, where required, to produce Official Statistics to fulfil our responsibility as a government department.

General completion guidelines

• This template is designed to capture data on every qualification registration/entry and result during the academic year.

• For registrations/entries, complete fields 1 to 18.

• For results, complete all fields.

• The MaxMarkAndBoundaryID field would be a unique code for a particular set of qualification grade boundaries and maximum mark information, intended to act as a linking field between the outcomes and maximum marks/grade boundaries templates. For example, for series-based qualifications it could be the name of the series, or for on-demand qualifications a unique code specific to that version of the assessments taken. ‘-2’ would be accepted for registrations/entries or for qualifications where the boundaries and maximum marks don’t change throughout the academic year.

• Award date refers to the date the qualification result is released to the centre (or candidate if result issued directly to candidate), not the date the certificate was issued (although in some cases these may be the same date).

• This applies to the September (academic year) return where a grade is reissued to a candidate, for example following a review of results or appeals, and the latest award date falls in the next academic year (eg in September rather than August). Please can the award date be either the date the original grade was awarded or, if this is not known, 31st August of the academic year the result was originally awarded.

• This applies to the September (academic year) return, where a result is issued late meaning that the award date would fall in the next academic year but was supposed to be issued in the previous academic year (eg in September rather than August). Please can the award date be either the intended award date or 31st August of the academic year the result was supposed to be awarded.

• The MaxMarkAndBoundaryID in this template is cross validated against MaxMarkAndBoundaryID in qualification grade boundaries template.

File format

The file must be CSV format and the first row must be headers as displayed in the ‘Name’ column of the table below. The subsequent rows must have the values of the data to be reported which must match the format and validation rules below.

Name	Description	Position	Validation Regular Expression	Description of Regular Expression
ReportingDate	Date the file was due to be submitted to Ofqual regardless of when it was actually uploaded (this date will be made available by Ofqual).	1	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits)
AcademicYear	The academic year which this data submission relates to (defined as 1 September to 31 August). For example, “2021-2022”.	2	^(20)\d\d[-](20)\d\d $	The academic year in the following format: start year (4 digits), a dash, end year (4 digits) Format accepted yyyy-yyyy
AwardingOrganisation	Name of the awarding organisation	3	^.{1,100}$	1 to 100 characters accepted
QualificationNumber	This should be the unique identifier for the qualification as it appears in Ofqual’s Register of Regulated qualifications, e.g. 123/1234/1	4	^.{1,10}$	Valid Qualification Number. 1 to 10 characters accepted.
MaxMarkAndBoundaryID	Identifier used to link information between the outcomes and grade boundaries templates. Where grade boundaries and/or maximum marks change for this qualification number, please use a common value for this field in both the qualification outcomes and qualification grade boundaries templates. This could be based on the series name or assessment test versions, for example -2 accepted for registrations/entries and where boundaries and maximum marks information do not change throughout the academic year	5	^.{1,50}$	1 to 50 characters accepted
UniqueLearnerNumber	Unique Learner Number (ESFA code) provided by the Learning Records Service.[footnote 1] Please provide this identifier wherever possible -2 accepted where the learner does not have a ULN	6	^\d{1,10}$	1 to 10 digits accepted -2 accepted where the candidate does not have a ULN
UniqueCandidateIdentifier	Unique Candidate Identifier (JCQ code), assigned to the candidate.[footnote 1] -2 accepted where the learner does not have a UCI	7	^.{1,13}$	A valid UCI. Alpha numeric 13 characters accepted -2 accepted where the candidate does not have a UCI
CandidateIdentifierOther	Any other unique candidate number allocated by individual awarding organisation. Must be provided where neither UCI or ULN are available [footnote 1] -2 accepted where at least one of UCI or ULN have been provided	8	^.{1,20}$	1 to 20 characters accepted -2 permitted where at least one of UCI, ULN have been provided
FirstName	Candidate’s forenames	9	^.{1,150}$	1 to 150 characters accepted
MiddleNames	Candidate’s middle name(s), if able to separate out from first names. Can be left blank if not known or unavailable, or if middle names cannot be separated from first names.	10	^.{0,150}$	0 to 150 characters accepted
Surname	Candidate’s surname or family name	11	^.{1,150}$	1 to 150 characters accepted
DOB	Candidate’s date of birth	12	^(19|20|29)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	Date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits) 2999-12-31 accepted if DOB unknown
Gender	Candidate’s gender Accepted values: M, F, -2 accepted for other or not stated	13	^(M\|F\|-2)$	Accepted values: M, F -2 accepted for other/unknown
CentreURN	Centre’s Unique Reference Number as assigned by the Department for Education at the time of data submission.-2 accepted where the centre does not have an URN[footnote 2]	14	^\d{1,6}$	Valid Centre URN. Up to 6-digit integer accepted -2 also accepted where centre does not have a URN
CentreNCN	Centre’s National Centre Number as allocated by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) at the time of data submission.[footnote 2] -2 accepted where the centre does not have an NCN	15	^\d{1,5}$	Valid NCN code. Up to 5-digit integer accepted -2 also accepted where centre does not have a NCN
CentreIdentifierOther	Any other number allocated to the centre or assessment venue by individual awarding organisations at the time of data submission. Must be provided if neither CentreURN nor CentreNCN are available.[footnote 2] -2 permitted where at least one of NCN or URN have been provided or for candidates who are not registered to a centre	16	^.{1,15}$	1 to 15 characters accepted -2 permitted where at least one of NCN or URN have been provided or for candidates who are not registered to a centre
RegistrationDate	Date when the candidate originally registered/entered for the qualification. For outcomes, this date must be on or before the first entry date and the award date. For series-based awards, this should be the deadline date for registrations/entries.	17	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), a dash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits)
QualificationCompletionStatus	Status of qualification at the time of submission. Where possible, please indicate where learners have withdrawn from the course. Accepted values: On programme, Completed, Withdrawn	18	^(On programme| Completed| Withdrawn)$	Accepted values: On programme Completed Withdrawn
AwardDate	The date that the result was issued, or is due to be issued to the centre (or candidate if result issued directly to candidate) Where used, this will be the date of the ‘results day’ for this qualification Future dates are accepted ‘2999-12-31’ accepted for registrations/entries	19	^(20)\d\d[-](0[1-9]|1[012])[-](0[1-9]|[12][0-9]|3[01])$	The date in the following format: year (4 digits), adash, month (2 digits), a dash, day (2 digits)
QualificationRawMark	Final aggregated raw mark for the qualification By raw mark, we mean the summed number of marks achieved by a learner without any weighting, scaling or other conversion applied. -2 accepted for not applicable or for registrations/entries	20	^\d{1,3}$	Three-digit integer. -2 accepted where not applicable
QualificationScaledScore	Final aggregated scaled mark/score for the qualification, where used. This would include any numerical score applied to the qualification that would not be considered a raw mark (see definition above) or a ‘grade’. This can include, for example, percentage scores, Uniform Mark Scale (UMS) marks or Grade Points or Grade Credits -2 accepted for not applicable or for registrations/entries	21	^\d{1,3}$	Three-digit integer. -2 accepted where not applicable
QualificationGrade	Final grade for the qualification, including fail -2 accepted for registrations/entries	22	See Annex A	See Annex A for accepted grades

Annex A – Accepted Grade Values

The following are grades accepted for this collection. Please let us know via the Portal as soon as possible if any grades appear to be missing from this list. You will not be able to submit any grades which are not on this list without informing us first.

FAIL

-2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

*, A*, A, B, C, D*, D, E, F, G, J, K, M, N, P, Q, U, X

AC1, C1, E1, E2, E3

D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, M1, M2, M3, P1, P2, P3

**, *1, *2, *D, D*D*, D*D, DD, DM, HM, LM, HP, LP, MD, MM, MP, PM, PP

***, D*D*D* , **D, D*D*D, D**, DD*D*, *DD, D*DD, DD*, DDD*, DD*D, DDD, DDM, DMM, MDD, MMD, MMM, MMP, MPP, PMM, PPM, PPP

24B, 25B, 26B, 27B, 28B, 29B, 30B, 31B, 32B, 33B, 34B, 35B, 36B, 37B, 38B, 39B, 40B, 41B, 42B, 43B, 44B, 45B

24D, 25D, 26D, 27D, 28D, 29D, 30D, 31D, 32D, 33D, 34D, 35D, 36D, 37D, 38D, 39D, 40D, 41D, 42D, 43D, 44D, 45D

24F, 25F, 26F, 27F, 28F, 29F, 30F, 31F, 32F, 33F, 34F, 35F, 36F, 37F, 38F, 39F, 40F, 41F, 42F, 43F, 44F, 45F

If you have any of the following grades please convert them to the allowed values listed.

Grade	Allowed Value		Grade	Allowed Value		Grade	Allowed Value
Distinction	D		High Merit	HM		High Pass	HP
Distinction*	D*		Merit	M		Pass	P
L1D*	*1		Low Merit	LM		Low Pass	LP
L1 Distinction*	*1		Merit 1	M1		Pass 1	P1
L2D*	*2		Merit L1	M1		Pass 2	P2
Distinction* L2	*2		L1 Merit	M1		Pass 3	P3
L2 Distinction*	*2		L1M	M1		Pass L1	P1
Distinction 1	D1		Merit 2	M2		L1 Pass	P1
Distinction L1	D1		L2M	M2		L1P	P1
L1 Distinction	D1		Merit L2	M2		L2P	P2
L1D	D1		L2 Merit	M2		Pass L2	P2
L2D	D2		Merit 3	M3		L2 Pass	P2
Distinction L2	D2		L1 Adv. Credit	AC1		Entry 1	E1
L2 Distinction	D2		L1 Credit	C1		Entry 2	E2
Distinction 2	D2					Entry 3	E3
Distinction 3	D3					Unclassified	U
						Queried/pending	Q
						Disqualified	X

Contacts

For all queries relating to the data collection process, amendments to data previously provided, or for general guidance. please contact:

Data services

Ofqual
2nd floor, 1 Friargate
Station Square
Coventry
CV1 2GN

Email [email protected]

1. To allow us to identify the learner please provide at least one of UniqueLearnerNumber, UniqueCandidateIdentifier,or CandidateIdentifierOther. If more than one is collected, please provide as many as are available ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. To allow us to identify the centre please provide at least one of CentreNCN, CentreURN or CentreIdentifierOther. If more than one is collected, please provide as many as are available. ↩ ↩² ↩³