Update on activities regarding the External Quality Assurance of End-Point Assessment Organisations

QAA has received correspondence from the Office for Students (OfS) regarding the assessment activity we should prioritise in our remaining time as Designated Quality Body (DQB), while we still consent to performing the role up to 31 March 2023. The approach has been determined in discussion with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE).

The OfS has asked us to prioritise monitoring checks, rather than readiness checks for providers, and has asked to focus specifically on three apprenticeship standards, although we may undertake assessments of additional standards:

• Police Constable
• Digital and Technology Solutions Professional
• Advanced Clinical Practitioner

We will shortly contact the providers that we have selected for assessment, to collect information from those providers and make arrangements to offer a briefing session with each individual provider. It is likely that we will require submissions of evidence from providers very soon after the Christmas break.

We have published a copy of the letter we received from the OfS.

The OfS has announced that from 1 April 2023, it will undertake assessments as part of the External Quality Assurance of End-Point Assessment Organisations. While QAA had offered to continue performing a role in relation to these assessments, this has been declined by the OfS. Therefore, providers who are not assessed by the DQB should await guidance from the OfS regarding the method that it intends to take with regard to further assessments.

Providers with any queries regarding the activity to be undertaken by the DQB should contact qae@qaa.ac.uk.