Vocational Qualifications Bulletin December 2025
Welcome to your Vocational Qualifications Bulletin for December 2025. This mini update covers preparing for the January exam series and information on the cohort declaration, qualification reforms, standards verification and more.
Welcome to your December edition
Thank you for everything you’ve done this year. Your commitment to your students and vocational education makes a real difference, and we appreciate it.
This month’s bulletin is a short one, with a few reminders to help you start January with confidence. Read on to find out more about preparing for the January assessment series, and completing your cohort declaration, our first term-time checkpoint, by the 30 January.
Enjoy a well-earned break. Wishing you a joyful holiday and a great start to 2026.
Best wishes,
Hayley White
Vice President Assessment, Standards and Services
Dates for your diary
Date
|
Description
|
|---|---|
| 31 December | Deadline to delete BTEC registrations made this academic year and receive a full refund |
| 30 January | Termtime checkpoint deadline: cohort declaration. Your head of centre completes a declaration to confirm all students who are expecting a result in summer 2026. |
| 21 Feburary | BTEC Tech Award entry deadline for internal and external components for the May/June series. |
| 18 March | Release of January series results to centres |
| 19 March | Release of January series results to students |
In this month's update
This is your first term-time checkpoint and completing it by 30 January helps us build an accurate picture of students expecting results in August 2026, so we can work together to make sure every learner gets their results on time.
Missed the email? Read our cohort declaration message
In that email we’ve got you covered with support articles, FAQs, and what you need to do to complete your cohort declaration in the VQ Learner Tracker.
Log in to the VQ Learner Tracker
Not ready to complete yet? No problem. Simply select 'View declaration' and pledge to complete it on time. It’s a quick way to let us know you’re on track.
Check your contingency plans
Winter weather can cause sudden disruption, and January assessments need to run smoothly even when conditions are challenging. Now is a good time to review your contingency arrangements so you can act quickly if travel, staffing, or site access become an issue.
JCQ guidance on contingency planning outlines the steps centres should have in place. You may wish to:
- have alternative invigilators available
- adjust start times, within JCQ regulations
- review how you will communicate last-minute changes to staff and students
Read more about contingency planning
Explore our support exam series support articles
You’ll find answers to most of your exam series questions through the Pearson portal. We’ve rounded up the most relevant for you to bookmark ahead of January:
If you’re running BTEC external assessments, you want to find everything you need to know quickly and easily so that everything runs smoothly. We’ve made a new tool to help you do exactly that.
We’ve now added the ability to filter to multiple programmes at the same time, so you can export just what you need all at once.
Upload your December/January series marks and samples
The deadline to upload your December/January series marks to Edexcel Online and samples to Learner Work Transfer was 15 December.
You can still submit samples if you haven’t quite finished, but bear in mind this might affect when you get your draft moderator report.
You don’t need to wait until the deadline; if you’ve got work ready, you can start uploading now. Read our guide to Learner Work Transfer to help you manage your submissions.
Learner Work Transfer moderation: managing requests - step-by-step guide
Submit your marks on Edexcel Online
As well as uploading your sample to Learner Work Transfer, you also need to submit all your students’ marks on Edexcel Online.
Follow our step-by-step or interactive guides if you need help entering marks.
BTEC Tech Awards: submitting/amending marks via Edexcel Online
The national results data for Level 2 and Level 3 BTEC qualifications is now live. The update includes entries, outcomes and expert commentary across BTEC Firsts, BTEC Tech Awards and BTEC Nationals, giving you a clear view of this year’s patterns and what they mean for learners.
You can read the full breakdown, including subject trends and insights into this year’s awarding approach, on our website.
The government has confirmed that larger Level 3 qualifications will be defunded in subjects where T Levels exist - with Health, Science and Digital key areas being affected in 2026. We're committed to supporting you through this transition to T Levels and funded BTECs as part of a mixed study programme, with full support and resources coming in the New Year.
IT & Computing - 4 March 2026 (15:00 - 16:00)
Medical Science - 10 March 2026 (16:00 - 17:00)
Health & Social Care - 12 March 2026 (15:30 - 16:30)
Your programme control measures have been published
We sent all programme control measures to your quality nominee’s Edexcel Online mailbox on 28 Novemver. If you are new to the role you may not have seen this, so please let us know and we can share the details with you.
Download your Centre Guide to Standards Verification
The latest version of the Centre Guide to Standards Verification is now available to download from the BTEC quality assurance page. Share this with your teams so you’re ready to start working with your standards verifiers once they’re allocated in the new year.
Download the Centre Guide to Standards Verification
Explore all our quality assurance support
Any questions?
Complete your Annual Programme Monitoring Review
The Annual Programme Monitoring Review (APMR) for the 2024/25 academic year is now open to complete. All quality nominees at Higher National centres that recruited learners in 2024/25 will receive an email with instructions to complete your APMR.
What you need to do
Make sure your quality nominee details are up to date in Edexcel Online so you don’t miss any important updates. You’ll need to complete the APMR by 20 February 2026.
Need help accessing it?
Email HNQA@pearson.com and we’ll send you the link and help you get started.
Booking paper-based on-demand tests in December
From 1 December 2025 to 28 December 2025, you won't be able to book Functional Skills paper-based on-demand tests for any date from 29 December 2025 to 12 January 2026. All other dates can be booked as normal.
Outside this date range, our standard process is in place, and you’ll be able to book paper-based on-demand tests as normal up to two weeks ahead of any planned test date.
