NCFE cuts apprenticeship assessor workforce as EPA reforms bite

One of the country’s largest awarding organisations has put more than three-quarters of its end-point assessment (EPA) team at risk of redundancy as government reforms overhaul how apprentices are assessed.

NCFE informed staff this week that 87 roles within its EPA team are at risk as part of a proposed restructure of its apprenticeship assessment department.

The educational charity has proposed to transition to a more “flexible” workforce model, with greater use of freelance assessors, and restructuring its full-time end-point assessment team.

The 87 roles represent 77 per cent of the 113 staff currently employed across NCFE’s apprenticeship assessment team.

Impacted employees have entered a collective consultation period which will run for at least 45 days.

NCFE, which employs 750 people overall, is the sixth largest awarding organisation in England by EPA volumes. It delivered over 7,400 completed EPAs in 2024-25 across 43 apprenticeships in areas like early years, teaching, business administration, adult care and leadership and management.

Flexible fix

An NCFE spokesperson told FE Week that its “difficult decision” to restructure was driven by government policy changes.

Earlier this year, the Department for Work and Pensions announced 16 apprenticeship standards, mostly taken by older workers, will be defunded this September in a bid to redirect funding towards young people.

NCFE delivers assessments for six of the standards earmarked for defunding, including the popular level 3 team leader and level 5 operations manager apprenticeships.

The government is also replacing the end-point assessment model introduced in 2017 with a system that allows assessment to take place at any stage of the apprenticeship, rather than only at the end.

New assessment plans introduce “sampling” of knowledge and skills, while mandatory qualifications are being given a stronger role in some standards with a reduced need for independent assessment.

Employers will also now verify apprentices’ “behaviours” themselves instead of having them independently assessed, and training providers will be able to deliver and mark some assessment elements directly.

An NCFE spokesperson told FE Week: “Government policy announcements over the past year in relation to the defunding of apprenticeship standards and changes to end-point assessment have led us to complete a comprehensive review of our approach to apprenticeship assessment.

“As a result of this, we have had to make the difficult decision to propose changes that will transition our workforce to a more flexible model and change the structure of our end-point assessment team.”

They added that the awarding body will draw upon its “flexible” workforce – such as freelancers – beyond the core assessment team to respond to changing customer demand and assessment volume.

“We believe these changes will help us better support customers as some standards shift from end-point assessment towards a combined approach with customers,” the spokesperson said.

“Our priority is to support impacted colleagues through this process, guide learners throughout their end-point assessment journey, and maintain the high-quality service and support our customers expect.”