Service messages

Updated on [15/10/2025]

Welcome to our service messages area. This area is regularly updated with the latest information about our products, qualifications, processes and more.

We’ll also send you a monthly newsletter where we’ll highlight any key updates, and you can click through to this webpage to read the full details. We recommend bookmarking this page so that you can check back regularly for any updates!

October 2025

Registrations 

Remember to register your learners to avoid late registration fees 

We wanted to send a reminder about our late registration fees to ensure you have all the information you need to register your learners on time and avoid any additional charges. 

As a reminder, we introduced a late registration fee from 1 August 2024 for all of our qualifications (with the exception of Functional Skills), to ensure we’re able to support learners at every stage of their journey and ensure we have the appropriate resources in place to support you during busy assessment periods. Please note: for V Certs and T Levels, late and very late registration fees are calculated differently. 

How much are late registration fees? 

For the products this applies to, if the learner is registered more than 90 days after their start date, a 10% late fee will be applied (which is 10% of the applicable registration and certification fee).  

For example, if you register a learner on 1 December 2025, but the learner’s start date was 1 August 2025, the late registration fee would apply as they’ve been registered with us more than 90 days after the learner started on the qualification. 

Read more about late registration fees, and which products they apply to, in our fees and pricing guide. 

V Cert late registration fees 

As of Friday 1 August 2025, we’ve introduced new V Cert late, and very late registration fees for registrations made after Saturday 31 January 2026. This will help us to ensure we have the resource to quality assure your learners’ work in a timely manner and ensures that we can best support you during periods of high demand.  

Read more information on learner start dates and late registration fees on our fees webpage.   

T Level late registration fees 

For T Level qualifications, you need to register your new cohort of students before Saturday 1 November. After this date, you’ll be charged a late registration fee (from Sunday 2 November until Tuesday 23 December) or a very late registration fee (from Wednesday 24 December until Friday 31 July), in line with our fees and pricing guide. You’ll be unable to register students for the 2025-26 session after Friday 31 July 2026. Take a look at our T Level Portal User Guide for instructions on how to register students.   

Further queries 

If you have any queries about late registration fees, please contact our Customer Support team via Live Chat on our website or by email at [email protected]. You can also speak directly to your Account Executive if you have any concerns.   

Please note: registering learners on a two-year course 

If learners are on a two-year course such as a Level 3 CACHE Diploma, please ensure that they are only registered once. If they’re progressing from the Award or Certificate to the Diploma, please use the transfer button in the Portal, rather than creating a new registration.  

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Term-time checkpoints (timely delivery of VTQ results) 

We wanted to confirm key dates with you for the timely delivery of VTQ results this year. Please note that direct comms to centres in scope of the arrangements will be sent before half term. 

 *Most external assessment results release dates have been brought forward to Friday 10 July 2026. NCFE CACHE Technical Level 3 Diploma in Childcare and Education (Early Years Educator) 601/8437/1 is released in August and the deadline for claiming will be Thursday 6 August 2026.  

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Quality assurance and annual monitoring reviews  

Arrange your external quality assurance and annual monitoring reviews (AMRs) as soon as possible  

You can now arrange your external quality assurance reviews for the 2025-26 session by contacting your External Quality Assurer directly (if you haven’t already done so). Every centre with live registrations will require annual monitoring review (AMR) this session, and quality reviewers are currently organising these if they weren’t booked last year.    

If your centre has multiple accounts but operates as part of a group and has separate AMRs, you may only need one AMR to cover all accounts. If this is not already in place, please contact your allocated quality reviewer to discuss.    

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Reasonable adjustments: form to complete 

If you need to record reasonable adjustments for internally assessed units and components, please use our new reasonable adjustments tracking document. 

This is a replacement for JCQ’s VQ/IA form, which has now been removed from their policies.  

Please note: If you have already recorded reasonable adjustments using JCQ’s previous VQ/IA form, you don’t need to transfer this information on to the new form.  

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Qualifications updates and withdrawals  

View this month’s Horizons update for the latest qualification changes and withdrawals.  

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Changes to our processes and systems 

Improved security for the Portal: multi-factor authentication  

We’re making changes to the Portal. You’ll shortly need to set up multi-factor authentication to log in. We’ll let all Portal users know via email ahead of the change being made.   

What is multi-factor authentication?  

Multi-factor authentication is a security process that requires users to provide more than one method of verification to gain access to an account or system. It's a crucial step in strengthening online security and protecting against unauthorised access.   

Why are we enabling multi-factor authentication in the Portal?  

We're committed to ensuring the highest standards of security for our systems. This extra layer of protection will help to safeguard sensitive learner data. With MFA, the Portal will be better protected against unauthorised access, reducing the risk of security breaches.  

Will I need a new account for the Portal?  

No, but the first time you log in, you’ll need to create a new secure password.  

Need help setting up multi-factor authentication?  

We'll be adding information to the Portal User Guide to walk you through the process of logging in with MFA.  

Can I opt out of using multi-factor authentication?  

No, this extra layer of protection will help to safeguard sensitive learner data. With multi-factor authentication, the Portal will be better protected against unauthorised access, reducing the risk of security breaches.  

This will go live from Friday 24 October, and we’ll contact all Portal users directly to confirm this. 

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Supporting your delivery 

Sign up for our upcoming assessor and IQA training events 

Sign up now for our assessor and IQA training events.  

Our assessor training events will provide you with an opportunity to:    

• explore the general principles of the assessment process    

• understand what we expect from assessors    

• get to know our paperwork and processes    

• highlight and share good practice    

• meet and network with other practitioners.    

Our internal quality assurance (IQA) events will provide you with an opportunity to:    

• explore the general principles of the internal quality assurance process    

• understand what we expect from you    

• get to know our paperwork and processes    

• review current practices and develop ideas for improvement    

• understand how to achieve and maintain Direct Claim Status (DCS)    

• meet and network with other IQA practitioners.    

Each event costs £75 per delegate and is delivered via Microsoft Teams as an interactive session. Please ensure you have a microphone, camera, and chat availability to take part in the discussions. The registered delegate will be eligible to receive a digital credential for attending.  

If you have any further questions, please contact our team on [email protected].  

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New learning materials available: supporting learners completing units on nutrition, health, fitness and food  

We’ve launched new learning materials focused on dietary requirements that are suitable to use across a range of qualifications with relevant units relating to nutrition, illness, health, fitness, and food. These materials are free and designed to complement your teaching and delivery and provide CPD opportunities for your learners. 

The materials include: 

• a glossary providing concise definitions of key terms with useful links to external websites 

• information displays: printable A2 displays featuring key facts on dietary subjects 

• interactive knowledge quizzes: an eLearning resource which learners can use to test and develop their knowledge of key areas. 

They can be found in the teaching materials section of each relevant qualification page and are the same across each qualification. Relevant qualifications include, but are not restricted to:  

• NCFE Level 1/2 Technical Award in Food and Cookery (603/7014/2)  

• NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Common Health Conditions (601/4306/X)  

• NCFE CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Working with Children in Early Years and Primary Settings (603/5937/7)  

• NCFE Level 3 Certificate in Sport and Physical Activity (Sports Coaching) (601/8878/9/COA)  
• NCFE CACHE Level 4 Diploma in Adult Care (603/2614/1).  

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Qualification-specific updates 

• Functional Skills  

• T Levels  

• V Certs 

Horizons archive

Explore our Horizons portfolio archive below.