Vocational Qualifications Bulletin September 2025
Welcome to your first Vocational Qualifications Bulletin of the 2025/26 academic year. Highlights this month include the Edexcel Online account confirmation, the new Level 3 BTEC National AAQs and news from across our vocational qualifications.
Welcome back
I hope you had a chance to recharge, and enjoy time away over the summer. As the new academic year begins, we want to start by saying a big thank you. Whether you’re teaching, leading, supporting students, or managing exams, your work last year made it possible for students to get their results in August.
Right now, we’re reviewing your feedback and finalizing our key dates and term-time checkpoints. Your input helps shape the way we support you so that together we can make this year run smoothly.
You’ll be ready to start delivering the new Level 3 BTEC Nationals (AAQs) this September. Specifications, assignment briefs, and sample materials are ready to download, with planning guides and live training events to support you along the way. Read on to find out more about Level 3 BTEC Nationals (AAQs).
And finally, if you need any additional support you can reach us through the Pearson support portal. We’re here to help.
Best wishes,
Nick Cutland
Director, Vocational Qualifications Assessment
Dates for your diary
Date
|
Description
|
|---|---|
17 October |
Entry deadline for January 2026 series |
| 1 November | BTEC registration deadline*: register your students on programmes that follow the academic year |
| 14 November | High late fee entry deadline for BTEC January 2026 series |
| 15 November | BTEC registration deadline*: register your L4 HNCs and L5 HNDs students that follow the academic year |
| 21 November | Basedata available for BTEC Firsts, L2 Technicals, Nationals and Tech Awards (from 2022) for summer 2026 series |
| 31 December 2025 | BTEC deletion deadline: deadline to delete learner registrations and receive a full refund for registrations made this academic year |
*For programmes that don’t follow the academic year, learners must be registered within six weeks of enrolment at the centre.
In this month's update
Heads of centre need to confirm their Edexcel Online accounts and accept the updated terms and conditions by 28 October. Exams officers, you’ll play a big part too. You’ll need to work with your head of centre to check accounts are up to date and make sure only the right people have secure access.
This protects student data and helps us reach the right people quickly when it counts.
We’ve sent full details, guidance, and step-by-step support directly to heads of centre and exams officers.
You've got a busy first few weeks: welcoming students, support your colleagues and getting everything set up for the year ahead.
To help you get off to a strong start, we've gathered everything you need for this term in on place. You'll find tailored guidance and resources for exams officers, teachers, quality nominees and senior leaders, all designed to make your job a little easier and give your students the best possible experience.
Explore support for vocational qualifications
Exams officers! Not sure where to start?
Download your autumn checklist
Five areas to focus on to get set up for the year and meet the first deadlines of 2025/26.
Welcome to the new BTEC National AAQs
If you're starting to deliver the new AAQs, make sure you're using the latest versions of the specifications and supporting materials and know which courses are funded in England. We emailed a quick summary of everything you need to know before you start delivery to all BTEC National centres at the start of September.
Read the email if you missed it
What’s funded and how to register your students
As you prepare to make your new student registrations for this academic year, you need to be aware of upcoming changes to BTEC National qualifications affecting centres in England who drawn down DfE funding.
Read our sector-by-sector guide to registrations and funding
BTEC Nationals in Hospitality stopped receiving funding from 31 July 2025. We emailed centres in June with more information.
Read June's email if you missed it
We’ve also made a standalone BTEC Level 3 funding guide for your reference:
Level 3 BTEC qualifications funding guide for 16–19 year olds in England
More Level 3 qualifications are on the way
New Certificate-size BTEC National AAQs and BTEC Level 3 Technicals have been approved for funding and will be available for first teaching in England from 2026.
Read all about the new qualifications and how you can prepare for them
An update on performance measures from DfE
The Department for Education had previously indicated that outcomes from AAQs would be included in the 2027/28 reporting year. However, to ensure that outcomes for all learners studying AAQs, including those commencing study in 2025/26, are captured in published data, AAQs will now be retrospectively added to the list of 16–18 performance measures to be reported on in the 2026/27 reporting year.
We'll share more information on reformed Technical Qualifications in due course.
See the full updated list of 16–18 performance measures
Delivering in a consortium or collaborative arrangement?
If you’re delivering your AAQ programmes as part of a consortium or collaborative arrangement, remember you’ll need to register your learners on the consortium programme code. Make sure you check your programme codes on Edexcel Online and let us know if anything’s missing.
How to check your programme codes on Edexcel Online
BTEC in Wales and Northern Ireland
The post-16 Level 3 vocational qualification reforms don’t affect Wales or Northern Ireland. Check out our funding guides for BTEC level 3 qualifications for a comprehensive picture of funding up to 2027.
Funding guides for Wales and Northern Ireland
New sector webinar dates for autumn 2025 and spring 2026
Keep up to date on the latest developments around the reforms with our programme of sector-specific briefings. We’ve added new dates to cover the next couple of terms, so find your event and book your place today.
You’ve asked, we’ve listened: you can now benchmark your students’ BTEC National results against national statistics in ResultsPlus, at both unit and qualification levels.
Find out how you can get more insight from your students’ results
We’ve updated our guidance on conditions for resubmission and retakes. Students are now eligible if they:
- meet the original or agreed extended deadline
- can improve evidence without further guidance
- complete a declaration of authentication with the assessor.
This means that the submission of inauthentic work no longer prevents resubmission, but you must still report malpractice in line with Pearson guidance.
You'll find this change updated in our centre guidance documents, all available to download on our quality assurance page.
We’d love to hear how your centre uses digital tools, including learning management aystems (LMS), and how you manage assessment for BTECs and Functional Skills qualifications.
This will help us understand what works best for you today and make sure future developments are designed around your needs. The survey takes less than five minutes to complete, and every response helps shape what comes next.
Earlier release of PSAs
Your BTEC Tech Award Pearson set assignments (PSAs) for the May/June 2026 series are now available to download from each Tech Award’s course materials page. PSAs are now released three months earlier, giving you more time to plan, prepare, mark and upload assessments.
Read more about the earlier release of PSAs
Have your say
We are committed to continuously improving the BTEC Tech Awards to give you and your students the best possible experience. The feedback we have received since launching the 2022 series has helped to shape real, practical improvements in line with standards set by the Department for Education.
Are you approved for delivery?
You must be approved by Pearson for each Technical Qualification you plan to deliver. If you didn’t apply for approval during the approval window (February–June 2025), please contact us as soon as possible.
Contact us via the Pearson support portal
Make your entries
The deadline to make entries for the core component for the autumn series and for the occupational specialism for the summer 2026 series is 5 October.
Need help? You'll find guides and videos on making and managing entries and assessments, results and re-sits on our admin support page.
Check out our refreshed training and admin support hub
We’ve refreshed our training and admin support page, making it easier for you to find the help you need when you need it.
You can find admin support, training resources, provider FAQs, support from industry professionals and more, all in one place.
Explore our training and admin support
Catch up on T Level news
We send out a monthly newsletter to all T Level providers.
Are you missing out on these updates? Make sure you receive the latest news and updates about T Levels directly to your inbox by signing up.
Entry Level Functional Skills: late 2024/25 sampling
The sampling deadline for Entry Level Functional Skills was 31 July. If you haven't been sampled, contact your SV by 25 September, or reach out to us directly if that’s not possible. After this date, sampling will pause for SV training, with new SVs assigned by the end of October.
Timely sampling is essential to avoid delays in certificate issuance. Late sampling may be treated as maladministration and could result in additional monitoring if July deadlines are repeatedly missed.
Functional Skills Level 1 and 2: complete your OSCA accreditation
The 2025–26 OSCA windows are now open and run monthly from September to July, with accreditation processed at the end of the month. If you follow an academic-year model, you must complete OSCA by 31 October; roll-on/roll-off programmes can access windows year-round.
OSCA accreditation is required annually for all lead internal verifiers and is essential for Functional Skills Level 1 & 2 English certification. Certificates can't be issued without it.
Read more about registering for OSCA
Digital Functional Skills Qualification: new functionality
You can now search for test booking using first name, last name, student registration and paper version on the ‘Orders FS Digital’ screen in the Digital Functional Skills portal. You can then export test details, helping to make your assessments more accurate and efficient.
View our step-by-step guide to Digital Functional Skills assessments
Meet your VQAM
You can book a Teams call with your dedicated vocational quality assurance manager (VQAM) if you'd some dedicated one-to-one support with your quality assurance. If you're new to BTEC or delivering the new Level 3 BTEC National AAQs, make the most of all the support we have to offer to get the year off to a strong start.
Live and online support for you
Explore our events schedule, on-demand CPD, and bitesize videos to support you in your BTEC role—we’d love to see you at a live event soon! If you're in Northern Ireland, you can book now for our November networks, where you can meet face-to-face with VQAM Sally Dodsley and Country Manager Fiona Callaghan.
Centre Guide to Internal Assessment: now available
Finally, make sure you share the updated Centre Guide to Internal Assessment with your teams. There are significant changes relating to the way in which signatures are completed on assessment documentation and the rules for resubmission, so make sure your BTEC delivery staff are up to speed.
EPA periods
As a reminder, where an apprentice has a status of EPA Approved, the EPA period starts from that date. Each assessment plan will indicate the EPA period (typically 12 weeks). If apprentices exceed the EPA period, you should submit an extenuating circumstances form.
EPA reform
We are actively reviewing and planning for what the changes happening to End Point Assessments mean for apprentices. If you have any specific queries around the EPA reform, please contact us.
HN English language requirement
We’ve updated the evidence requirement to demonstrate learners hold the required English language standard. Centre-devised tests are no longer accepted as sufficient evidence.
Read more in the Centre Guide to Quality Assurance and Assessment
HN Marketing partners with the Chartered Institute of Marketing
Higher Nationals in Business (Marketing) and the new Higher National Certificate in Marketing Management for England have gained exemptions and additional learner benefits with the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
Want to find out more? Join us at a webinar on 1 October, where CIM will discuss the benefits this partnership will bring to your Marketing students, progression opportunities, CIM exemptions, professional recognition, enriched learning resources and more.
Updated BTEC Higher Nationals Civil Engineering specification released
The BTEC Higher National Civil Engineering for England (Issue 2) specification is now live. Accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators (Institution of Civil Engineers) and re-approved as an HTQ by Skills England, this update ensures the qualification fully meets current industry standards. You can access Issue 2 immediately and deliver with confidence, knowing it reflects the latest professional and educational requirements for civil engineers.
The latest centre handbooks are now available for you to download on the WBL support page.
Download your quality assurance handbooks
Standards verifier (SV) and lead standards verifier (LSV) allocations
We’re preparing to release SV/LSV allocations for all work-based learning centres. Allocations will be available by 22 September 2025, and your SV will be in touch once these are live. Please work with them to arrange your quality assurance activities.
Key quality assurance dates:
- SV/LSV allocations: 22 September 2025
- Centre self-assessment (CSA): complete by 14 October 2025
- Edexcel Online account confirmation and terms and conditions: complete by 28 October 2025
- Standards verification activity: November 2025 – July 2026 (although timings may vary by programme)
- LSV reviews (if applicable): by December 2025 (dates set with each centre)
Be ready to complete your centre self-assessment
The centre-self assessment will open in the next few days, and we’ll email you directly with guidance if you need to complete it for your centre. This annual activity confirms you have everything in place to deliver Pearson work-based learning qualifications. The deadline to submit your self-assessment will be 3 November.
