May 2026 BTEC update for Business, Applied Law, Enterprise and Marketing

Centres will be contacted to inform that we will be conducting Higher National inspection visits which will take place throughout each academic year. These visits ensure that our quality assurance (QA) process for Higher Nationals is robust and effective in protecting the integrity of our qualifications.

We are certain that you will share our continued commitment to ensure that Pearson Higher National qualifications are delivered with integrity. We view all of our centres as trusted partners in qualification delivery, and we are confident of your ongoing support.

Overview of the process

Our Higher National inspection visits will take place throughout each academic year.

You may be contacted 48 hours in advance of the inspection visit.On arrival to your centre, the Pearson representative conducting the visit, will bring appropriate identification and will ask to speak to the Head of Centre or Quality NomineeThe Pearson representative will need access to the enrolment and attendance records regarding your centres Higher National programme.Upon completion of the visit, you will receive an outcome report within 10 working days.

Any concerns identified during these visits may be referred to the Pearson Centre Quality Manager for review and action if required.

What you will need to do

To minimise disruption to your staff and learners, we aim to only conduct visits during term time when programs are being delivered. In order to help us conduct these visits, we will require details of where your centre stores documentation for the Higher National qualification you are delivering, and the availability of your Quality Nominee should your centre be selected for a visit. We will get in touch with you to request this information.

Pearson continues to work closely with the Department for Education for students and other key stakeholders; this can include sharing relevant information from our review processes with them on request.
We appreciate your continued cooperation with these additional quality measures.

If you have any questions about the above, please do not hesitate to contact us via the Pearson support portal.

We’ve created a new form to make applying for special considerations for internally assessed BTEC units quicker and easier. Make sure you save a copy and use it for all future special consideration applications for internal units.

What’s changed? 

This new form has more detailed instructions and dedicated sections for your rationale, alternative arrangements and grade profile, making it easier for you to provide the right evidence from the start and avoid any follow-up questions that delay the application.

You should submit all special considerations applications for internally assessed BTEC units by 30 June. Just email uk.special.requirements@pearson.com with an attached completed copy of the form.

If you have any questions about using the new form, special requirements, or anything else, we’re here to help. Get in touch via the Pearson support portal.

The latest information page from the JCQ includes

• guidance for teachers on malpractice
• presentations for teachers and learners
• an information sheet for teachers
• a poster for learners

We have published this support guide to aid  to enhance learner and centre confidence in selecting appropriate enterprises for both Component 1 and Component 2, as required by the PSA, each series

It provides structured examples of enterprise types within various industries that may be studied.

This is not an exhaustive list and serves as guidance for meeting the criteria of size, type, and ownership, which is outlined in the PSA ‘vocational context’, each series, and must be consulted before choosing the businesses to study.

The guide will be updated, when required, to reflect the demands of the PSA enterprise catergories.

If you want to catch up now with some marking and moderation advice before the new training sessions this month, check out this session recording at your leisure.

January 2026

May 2026

Following the CAR report and consultation findings, the roadmap for Level 3 pathways is now clearer.

Below is the funding guidance as of April 2026. Most qualifications will have their first teach extended to the 27/28 academic year, except Extended Diplomas, which will be defunded from 26/27 as previously announced. We provide multiple pages to update you on reforms and current curriculum developments.

We are also beginning to understand which subjects will be introduced to replace the BTEC qualification in Business, in a V Level fomat, as well as timelines. We expect further updates on this later this year.

Hopefully you are all well underway with the Standards Verification process - please do get in touch if you need any support or guidance, however do utilise the expertise of your SV in the first instance.

Standards verification is an integral part of our quality assurance model, and its timely completion will help ensure the successful release of student results.
Standards verifiers will contact you in the first instance to introduce themselves, their role and the sampling process.

Please make sure you share this information with the relevant lead internal verifier(s), who will then be responsible for working with the standards verifier to get the process underway. 

If your centre has multiple subsites under one main number, (e.g. 12345 A & B), you’ll be allocated one standards verifier across all subsites. If you operate sites with different centre numbers, each site may have a separate standards verifier allocation. If you’re part of a consortium arrangement, you’ll see a single standards verifier allocation across all the sites in the consortium.

The deadline to share samples with your standards verifier is 15 May, although we recommend that this takes place at the earliest opportunity. This will be agreed with your standards verifier upon review of the assessment plan(s), so do check in with the lead IVs and ensure that the document has been shared.    

Remote samples for both Standard and Enhanced control measures must be submitted via the Learner Work Transfer platform, accessed via Edexcel Online.

We are here and ready to support you through this process. Contact us if you have any questions about the standards verification process, or if you have not yet received an SV allocation for any BTEC programme.   

The updated Centre Guide to Standards Verification will provide all the information you need in terms of sampling requirements and please share the new bitesize videos to Standards Verification with your curriculum teams. 

Modified papers for learner with varying needs to access past examination materials, are now available to download from our website.

Applied Law - January 2026

Applied Law - May 2026

Business - May 2026

Enterprise & Entrepreneurship - May 2026

Marketing - May 2026

Watch the training session held last month to support the marking of learner work for both Level 2 and Level 3.

We have a variety of pages devoted to keeping you updated with the specifications, teaching resources, sample assignment materials as well as all authorised assignment briefs and Pearson Set Assignments.

Also find access and support the Pearson Progress platform to help simplify the planning and assessment of BTEC qualifications

Find ot more about our work with strategic partners such as Liverpool Football Club and the British Esports Federation, amongst others, allowing us to maintain content relevance and global reach.

We have developed digital resources to support your delivery of our suite of BTEC International Level 3 qualifications and cover the mandatory and some of the more popular optional units. 

Our Study Texts have been thoroughly developed and feature international examples, scenarios and references to make them relevant across a broad range of geographical territories and support learning and teaching delivery.