Navigating policy into practice: What AELP’s Apprenticeship Assessment Summit tells us about the year ahead

Held in Birmingham last week, the AELP Apprenticeship Assessment Summit took place as apprenticeship assessment reform moves out of policy design and towards the point where apprenticeship assessment organisations, providers and employers start to prepare themselves for actual delivery. Not focused on a single announcement or reform milestone, the event sought to set out a clearer sense of the overall direction of change and what this is likely to mean in practical terms for providers, employers and assessment organisations, a summit that blended policy with practicality, hence our strap line for the event.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) have been clear that the overall policy direction for the reform of end point assessment has been established. The Department for Education (DfE) – as it was last year, before the Machinery of Government change – set this out back in February last year in National Apprenticeship Week with a set of high level published new assessment principles. These broadly covered assessment not having to always take place at the end of the programme, allowing providers to be involved in assessment where appropriate, stripping out duplicate assessment and making assessment activity more proportional. On the face of it, all sound principles, especially with a push to ensure apprentices can complete their programme on a timely basis and with a finite programme budget, ensuring as much funding as possible is made available to be spent on high-quality training.

Given this is the biggest shake-up of how apprenticeships work since 2017, officials from DWP said at our event that the next 12-18 months will be transitional. We know there are over 700 apprenticeship standards and the Autumn Budget promised some streamlining of that portfolio, but it shouldn’t be underestimated what an enormous endeavour this will be for training providers, assessment organisations, employers and Skills England. Also, as a reminder that this is a two-stage process, for training providers and assessment organisations who still have the task of developing the subsequent programmes and curriculum, ready their teams and work closely with their employers.

Attention also shifted towards implementation: how new approaches will operate on the ground, how transition risks will be managed, and how standards, confidence and trust in the system can be maintained as reforms take effect. Part of the discussion also touched on the volume of changes in assessment in the wider skills ecosystem, including qualification reform and the expedited development of new V Levels, and the capacity and sufficiency of assessment expertise across the sector to manage this quantum of assessment change.

A fundamental shift in how assessment works

Now, a maturing system certainly allows for a more nuanced approach, with reduced duplication and assessment that is proportionate to the training programme. The most significant theme running through the day was the move away from assessment as a discrete, end-point event towards a more continuous, on-programme model. This fundamentally changes the rhythm of apprenticeships, the sequencing of learning and assessment, and the way assessment evidence is generated, reviewed and subsequently assured.

For providers, this means assessment can no longer be treated as something that happens “at the end” or is largely externalised. It took some providers a while back in 2017 to align with the requirement to thoroughly and appropriately prepare apprentices successfully for EPA. This is an issue that Ofsted previously highlighted across parts of the sector, although it now appears only rarely in inspection reports. In response, feedback, judgement and progress tracking have become more central to delivery, with assessment more closely aligned to real work and employer practice. The potential benefits are clear: reduced delays, more sensible approaches to the collection of on-programme evidence for projects, earlier intervention where learners are struggling, a likely boost to outcomes and a better experience for employers and apprentices alike.

Readiness Across The Sector Is Uneven

The Summit also highlighted that readiness across the sector is uneven. Comparably larger providers with established internal assessment capability are generally better placed to adapt more quickly, while smaller and specialist providers may face sharper challenges, particularly around workforce capacity, assessor confidence and internal quality assurance. The response is therefore likely to be mixed, with apprenticeship assessment organisations preparing to offer a range of approaches tailored to different provider needs. Readiness may also be influenced by whether a standard already includes a mandated qualification, as providers delivering these programmes are often better positioned to adapt to a changing assessment model.

In particular, providers will want to look closely at whether assessment responsibilities and workloads remain fit for purpose; how feedback and judgement are captured, evidenced, shared across delivery teams and quality assured in real time; and whether current tutor and assessor roles and training arrangements are adequately aligned to the new model.

Employer confidence and understanding

A second recurring theme was the central role of employers in the reformed assessment model. Employers are expected to play a much more active role in assessment, particularly in verifying the behaviours of their apprentice. This aligns the assessment more closely with reality, but it also raises important questions about consistency, confidence and support. Yes, in theory, the employer is well placed to confirm an apprentice’s behaviours through their on-the-job training and ongoing performance and development reviews. However, we know that smaller employers, especially, might not have the same levels of understanding and time to ensure this process is as rigorous and robust as it needs to be to have credibility. We think this part of the reform could do with strengthening and is something we will be taking forward with Skills England as a byproduct of the Summit. The Summit highlighted a shared risk: if employers do not understand the new model, or perceive it as less rigorous or less independent, confidence in apprenticeships could be undermined. Clear communication and transparency as well as shared expectations, will be essential not just from AAOs and providers but from Skills England and DWP to enable employers to be guided consistently.

Providers should be preparing to:

• Explain clearly to employers how assessment decisions are made and assured.
• Support employers to understand their role without creating additional burden.
• Reassure employers that flexibility in approach does not mean lower standards.

Assessment plans, timing and sequencing

Skills England’s update reinforced that implementation will be phased and uneven by design. Around 700 standards are in scope to be reviewed, with revised assessment plans published in batches rather than all at once. It is expected that phase two will launch in February 2026, with phase three beginning in the summer. Some sectors, particularly safety-critical ones such as construction, where there has been collective challenge, will take longer due to regulatory and assurance requirements.

This creates complexity for providers operating across multiple standards and sectors with a staggered approach. Transition planning will need to be granular, not generic.

Key areas to monitor include:

• Which standards are being reviewed first, and what transitional arrangements apply.
• How changes to assessment timing affect delivery models and learner journeys.
• How to manage apprentices on legacy and new assessment plans in parallel.

Funding and cashflow implications

One of the most pressing issues raised by delegates was funding. Moving assessment earlier in the programme has clear implications for cashflow, contracting and risk. While it is widely accepted that there will be changes, there is understandable concern about how revised funding models will work in practice and the lack of clarity as to when AAOs and providers will gain more information. A question was raised on future tweaks to the funding model, as the funding model uses EPAO quotes for EPA, currently a standardised product, which we are moving away from. The Summit confirmed that funding arrangements are still under development and will evolve alongside assessment reform. This uncertainty makes planning difficult and may lead to a shift in the market if funding changes make the delivery of certain standards not commercially viable.

Providers will want to assess:

• The financial and cash flow impact of paying for the assessment earlier in delivery.
• How revised funding models could affect subcontracting and commercial arrangements.
• Whether internal systems can track costs and delivery differently under the new model.

Regulation: flexibility with accountability

Ofqual’s contribution underlined that regulatory reform is designed to support, not constrain, the new assessment principles. The emphasis is on comparable outcomes rather than identical methods, allowing assessment organisations flexibility in design while holding them to account for rigour, fairness and occupational competence.

For providers, this means operating in a system where assessment approaches may vary more between organisations, but expectations of quality and evidence remain high. Engagement and ongoing partnership between apprenticeship assessment organisations and providers (centres in Ofqual language) will be critical.

To stay ahead of the curve, providers should:

• Stay close to updates on the regulatory framework and consultation outcomes – the revised regulatory framework is due in the spring.
• Feed practical delivery insights back to assessment organisations.
• Ensure internal quality processes are aligned with outcome-based assurance.

The months ahead

If we have a single overall takeaway from our Apprenticeship Assessment Summit, the message given by the government was that it’s that this is a period of managed transition, not one of instant transformation – whether that is true, we will know very shortly and very quickly.

Progress will be iterative, sometimes uneven, and occasionally uncomfortable. But there is also a genuine opportunity to address long-standing frustrations and to design an assessment system that better serves learners, employers and the economy – a simple example is where apprentices are currently unable to collect on-programme evidence for a portfolio until they have passed through the gateway.

For providers, the task now is not to wait for perfect clarity, but to engage actively, test assumptions, build capability, build on the collaborative engagement with assessment organisations which we saw at our event and influence the system as it develops. AELP will continue to work closely with members, policy makers and regulators to ensure provider voices shape the next phase of reform and that implementation is practical, proportionate and focused on quality.

Attention now turns from what needs to change to how it is delivered, and providers that engage early will be better placed to adapt with confidence.

By Simon Ashworth, AELP Deputy CEO and Director of Policy