VTQ Timely Delivery of Results

These arrangements will apply to the following City & Guilds Level 2 and Level 3 VTQs which can be used for progression.

List of qualification in scope

Whilst we offer other Level 3, Level 1/2 and Level 2 VTQs these are not normally used for progression and are therefore not in scope of the checkpoint activity.

Note: The checkpoint activity for T Levels will require centres to submit estimated completion data separately at component level, for the core component and the occupational specialism.

It is vital that City & Guilds is able to release results on time.

Failure to meet the term-time checkpoint activity, or submitting incomplete or inaccurate estimated completion data may adversely affect a student’s result, and as such their progression to higher education or employment.

Any instance where a centre fails to submit all required data or does not respond to information requests will constitute maladministration and will be referred to the City & Guilds compliance team. It is our hope however that all centres will actively engage in the checkpoint activity during 2024 to avoid any such instance.

It is a centres responsibility to ensure;

• Registrations and all applicable assessment entries are made in Walled Garden for each student by the published deadline
• You keep student registration and booking data accurate and up to date throughout the academic year
• You do not make duplicate bookings for the same assessment, or make bookings for assessments that are not required
• All students have a single enrolment number, and that any discrepancies (i.e. a student enrolment merge is required) are resolved prior to results being issued
• All students undertaking an exam have the relevant booking, prior to sitting the exam
• Exams are administered correctly, and that all paper scripts are securely packaged and returned to the correct address on time and via recorded delivery
• All estimated completion data is submitted accurately by the published deadline as part of the VTQ Checkpoint
• That all relevant assessment marks, grades and evidence are submitted to us no later than the published deadline
• Every student has the marks / grades submitted to enable them the opportunity to complete their qualification (i.e. the Rules of Combination are met)

City & Guilds will undertake two term-time checkpoint windows in 2025. 

Window 1 will open on Monday 6 January for centres to submit estimated completion data no later than Friday 31 January.

Window 2 will open on Monday 24 March for centres to reconfirm the original submissions made in window 1, making any amendments as necessary by Friday 11 April.

As soon as the checkpoint data has been submitted for each window, centres will be able to access a breakdown of information regarding each student’s existing assessment entries in comparison to the qualification rules of combination. This continues across both checkpoint windows.

The checkpoints are designed to ensure City & Guilds understands which students are expecting a qualification result (Technicals / EPQ) or component result (T Levels) in August 2025 through the submission of ‘estimated completion data’.

This ensures both City & Guilds and our centres ensure students receive their results on time.

The Checkpoint data must be submitted in Walled Garden. Download our centre guidance below for step-by-step instructions on how to complete the data submission.

Download the centre guidance

All registered student will be pre-populated in a table for you to input your completion data for each qualification.

• You’ll only see qualifications you are approved for and have active registered students, so it is really clear what data needs to be provided.
• For each student you’ll be required to submit completion data, predicted grade and any progression indicator (i.e. where the student is reliant on their qualification to progress to university or employment).
• You can download your student data to a .csv file (which can be edited in Excel) to complete offline and then upload for submission.
• The system enables you to display previously certificated students who you need to enter as resitting the qualification in order to improve their grade.
• Once you’ve submitted your checkpoint data for a qualification, our system will review each student overnight to see if they meet the rules of combination based on current assessment bookings. We refer to this as the bookings reconciliation process. You’ll be able to run the report again the following day to identify those students who do not currently meet the rules of combination for the qualification and where you might have missed bookings/entries.

Checkpoint data submission requirements:

You’ll need to provide one of the following for each student for each programme of study as part of the checkpoint data:

You will need to provide a predicted grade for all students who are due to complete their qualification this year, plus whether the student requires the result for progression. This information is mandatory for 2025.

Once you have submitted the Checkpoint data for a programme of study, you can then complete an assessment entry and rules of combination (RoC) reconciliation process through Walled Garden.

This enables centres to identify students who do not have all required assessment entries and do not currently meet the full rules of combination based on entries and/or results. It helps to ensure no student is disadvantaged and has the opportunity to achieve their qualification on time.

We only provide the data for students who have been submitted as Yes (Y) and are due to complete. That’s why it’s crucial that this data is submitted accurately.

As part of the checkpoint activity last year, we also asked centres to indicate where a student had been withdrawn from the programme of study.

This will continue to form part of the checkpoint activity. Any student marked as withdrawn as part of the checkpoint activity will cease to be actively enrolled (have an active registration) on the qualification as of 01 September in the next academic year.

Students will need to be re-registered on the qualification if they return to study in the future. For T Levels the withdrawn learner can be completed at core and occupational specialism component level.

All withdrawals have now been processed for the 2024 checkpoint data.

Centres which do not complete the term-time checkpoint by the published dates will incur late completion fees. 

An administration fee of £300 per programme of study (qualification) will be charged where the data is not submitted in full by the published checkpoint deadline. 

The late completion fee applies to all checkpoint windows within an academic year.

The certification intention data submitted as part of the term-time checkpoint is also considered as a cash-in for the current academic year and is used to inform City & Guilds that you wish to claim (or cash-in) the qualification certification for a student. 

Where a student has been marked as Yes (Y), a certification claim will be processed in the respective results window (usually August).

Please ensure that any students who do not wish to receive a qualification certification in the current series (i.e. who do not need to claim / cash-in) are marked as No (N).

The terminal rule applies to KS4 Technical Awards. Please refer to the documents published on the Technicals Resource Hub for more information.

Updated guidance on handling disruption, such as industrial action, is available from the Department for Education, the regulators, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) and City & Guilds.

We have updated our guidance in line with the regulators to ensure it is clear to centres their responsibilities, and the steps that must be taken to ensure exams/assessments can continue:

Download the Emergency Situation Assessment Delivery Guidance

Our Exam Support Hub provides essential information you need at every stage of the exam and assessment cycle, including how to register learners, conduct exams, return papers and support for results.

Exam Support Hub

Ofqual also provides resources for exams officers.

Ofqual resources for exams officers