Reforms to apprenticeship assessments were announced by the Department for Education (DfE) and Minister for Skills in February 2025.
Since joining Skills England in May 2025 as Deputy Chief Executive, I’ve spent much of my time listening, learning and building a deep understanding of the apprenticeship reforms, mainly assessment reform and what they mean in practice. What I’ve heard consistently is that every sector is different, and that change needs to be delivered in a pragmatic, proportionate way, rather than through a one-size-fits-all approach.
In this blog, I want to explain why changes are being made to apprenticeship assessment, what those changes mean in practice, and how Skills England is working with employers, providers and assessment organisations to implement them effectively. I’ll also set out what happens next and what you can do now to prepare.
What you need to know about the reforms
The reforms are rooted in a simple aim: to make assessment simpler, avoid duplication, more flexible and more effective, while maintaining quality and ensuring apprentices are fully competent in their occupation. A Department for Education review in 2024 reflected what many of you told us — that although apprenticeships deliver strong outcomes, the assessment process can be overly complex, burdensome and time-consuming.
Earlier this year, the Government published a new set of assessment principles that will apply to all apprenticeships, at every level, as part of delivering the Plan for Change.
Skills England's role
Skills England exists to build our nation’s skills, supporting growth and opportunity. We help businesses strengthen their workforce and support more people into skilled jobs, faster.
We are leading the implementation of the new assessment principles and are responsible for the development and approval of apprenticeship assessment plans. We are working closely with the Department for Work & Pensions, Ofqual and the Office for Students, and in partnership with employers, assessment organisations, training providers and professional bodies, to develop assessment approaches that reflect occupational reality and employer need.
Throughout this blog, you’ll also find practical resources to help you prepare for and implement these changes.
What we've heard from you
Apprenticeships matter — to learners building their careers, to employers developing the skills they need, and to our wider economy. The reforms are not designed to change the value and currency of Apprenticeships- far from it.
However, we have heard that there are concerns around content sampling and that assessment could become less rigorous, but we can reassure you that content sampling will only be used for non-mandatory content within an apprenticeship.
Where content is considered mandatory, as agreed by established ‘Groups of Persons’ including employers, it will always be included in every version of an assessment.
An apprentice will still need to learn all the knowledge, skills and behaviours, to be occupationally competent and to be confident of passing their assessment.
Implementing the reforms
To begin with, we focused on an initial group of five apprenticeship assessment plans in collaboration with key stakeholders to test the approach to implementing the new reforms.
The five were selected to reflect a range of different types of occupations, for example both practical and desk-based occupations. This group also presented a range of characteristics which enabled us to test our operational approach, for example standards including mandatory qualifications. Once approved by Skills England, plans that meet DfE’s assessment principles will be published on the Skills England Apprenticeship Finder.
The first three of these plans have now been published as illustrative examples to help employers, training providers and AOs prepare for future delivery. They are not yet available for delivery, and current end-point assessment plans remain in place.
The three published plans are:
The Carpentry and joinery assessment plan also part of the initial group of five, has not been published at this stage. We are committed to maintaining high quality assessment in apprenticeships and have listened carefully to feedback from the construction sector. We are working with representatives of industry, regulators and others to get the detail right.
We will provide more information on implementing the revised plans when our final General Requirements for apprenticeship assessment and Ofqual’s revised regulatory framework are published, which is expected to happen in Spring 2026. This information will include details about when apprentices can start being assessed under the revised plans that are linked above.
What the changes mean for you
Employers, assessment and delivery experts will play a key role in putting the reforms into practice and will work with us to help revise existing end point assessment plans to ensure that they meet the needs of employers and apprentices. We are taking a pragmatic approach as we know there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. We have listened and learnt from the pilot plans. You can read more about this by following the link in the further resources section below.
Regulation by Ofqual, Office for Students (OfS) or industry bodies will continue.
AOs, training providers, employers, professional and regulatory bodies will all have specific roles to play in understanding and rolling out these new reforms. Information to support you in your roles will be provided by Skills England along the way.
Assessment Organisations
AOs must work with employers when designing apprenticeship assessments to ensure they meet employer needs and will remain responsible for creating all assessment materials, ensuring quality and comparability of outcomes.
Training Providers
Training providers will take on more responsibility for deciding when apprentices are ready for assessment and supporting assessments at their centres. Where the revised assessment plan allows, they may also deliver and mark certain elements of the assessment.
Employers
As is currently the case, employers are best placed to confirm that apprentices are demonstrating the required behaviours outlined in the occupational standard. To remove duplication these behaviours won’t be separately assessed by training providers or AOs. Instead, employers will verify that each behaviour has been demonstrated during the apprenticeship. This must be done before the apprentice can receive their certificate.
We are developing guidance with employers to help them navigate the upcoming changes and their role in verifying behaviours. Further details will be shared as soon as this guidance becomes available.
There are a number of ways in which employers can ensure quality is maintained:
- in developing the occupational standard by making sure it is fit for purpose
- preparing the aspects of the apprenticeship assessment plan that require occupational expertise, making sure apprentices are assessed in a way that confirms their competence
- getting involved in designing and reviewing assessment organisations’ assessment materials to ensure quality and standards are maintained over time
- sharing intelligence with the awarding organisations to ensure continuous improvement
Next steps
We have now published a list of standards on the Skills England Revisions and Adjustments status report setting out the assessment plans that we are currently revising under these reforms. We will continue to update this with all revisions and further assessment plans in early 2026.
We are sharing this information now so that it is available to stakeholders for when they return in the new year.
We have published an interim version of our ‘General Requirements for Apprenticeship Assessment’, which explains what all apprenticeship assessments must include and offers extra guidance to help ensure assessments remain fair, consistent, and reliable. The final guidance is expected in Spring 2026.
The next steps for the reforms will be:
- Ofqual will publish a new regulatory framework which we expect to see in Spring 2026 - a consultation is currently being held on the proposals, which closes on 11 February 2026
- apprentices will start being assessed under the revised plans in 2026 and 2027, with a lead-in period for AOs and training providers
- funding band reviews will start in 2026
We are continuing to listen - how you can get involved
Skills England values the feedback from all of our stakeholders and invites them to complete a stakeholder apprenticeship assessment survey to comment on related standards and provide their insights on an apprenticeship assessment plan. Surveys will be published for apprenticeship assessment plans that are new and those in revision under the assessment reforms. This is a public survey and will take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
The insights provided by the survey are shared with the expert pool preparing the apprenticeship assessment plan. Your feedback will be considered by Skills England and the expert pool as part of the apprenticeship assessment plan development process.
The survey is anonymous, and any information collated would be used in strict confidence.
To access a stakeholder apprenticeship assessment survey for an apprenticeship standard listed on the Revisions and Adjustments Report or if you would like to be added to the survey distribution list, to be notified when a survey is released, please email submissionsurvey.skillsengland@education.gov.uk stating the standard and route you are interested in.
Further information and guidance
DfE’s Changes to apprenticeship assessment, 2025 to 2026 contains further information on the policy and guidance to support providers, AOs, employers, professional and regulatory bodies and apprentices in this transition.
The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) are offering training to support all AOs with the transition. The training is free of charge and open to FAB members, non-members, training providers, employers and other stakeholders working with Apprenticeship Assessment Organisations.
Earlier this year, the Government published a new set of assessment principles outlining the changes, which will apply to all apprenticeships, at all levels.
Improvements to the assessment process will include:
- simpler and shorter assessment plans, based on occupational standards that are agreed by employers
- removal of unnecessary duplication such as retesting of knowledge, skills and behaviours
- making sure that assessment organisations work with employers when designing assessments, to ensure that employer needs are met
- allowing assessment during the course of the apprenticeship where appropriate rather than requiring all assessment to be undertaken towards the end, enabling timely and efficient assessment
- improving the apprentice experience by enabling assessment at the right time and place whilst ensuring apprentices achieve full occupational competence
- providers delivering and marking certain elements of the assessment where the assessment plan allows
- implementing innovation and flexibility in assessment design by considering the best use of technology and digital tools when setting assessment methods
The following new terminology will be used for the revised assessment:
- Apprenticeship assessment has replaced end-point assessment
- Assessment organisation (AO) has replaced end-point assessment organisation (EPAO)
- Gateway to completion has replaced gateway
- ‘Assessment’ refers to assessment which can take place at any stage of the apprenticeship, not just at the end, and contributes towards the final grade
Get in touch
If you have any queries about the assessment reforms or want more information, email us at apprenticeshipassessment.skillsengland@education.gov.uk
Gemma Marsh
Deputy Chief Executive, Skills England
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