FAQs - Apprenticeship Assessments

The decision to determine when each apprentice is ready to undertake Apprenticeship Assessments is referred to as ‘the Gateway to completion’ and should involve participation from the employer, training provider and apprentice. Agreement, or ‘sign-off’, is required to demonstrate that the apprentice has the knowledge, skills and behaviours required within the Standard and to inform the Apprenticeship Assessment Organisation that the apprentice is ready for Apprenticeship Assessment.

Please note that Open Awards are only able to accept registrations from providers who are currently on the Register of Approved Providers (RoATP).

Open Awards requires at least three months advance notice of the potential gateway to completion date.

Open Awards provide indicative content, sample Apprenticeship Assessment materials, and skills scans to support apprentices become familiar with how they will be assessed. These are likely to be used around the gateway period as employers and training providers prepare apprentices for Apprenticeship Assessment. As such their purpose is familiarisation with the assessment process, rather than to be used to support gateway to completion decisions.

The role of the Independent Apprenticeship Assessor is to be independent, and responsible for assessing apprentices in line with the required assessment plan, providing an overall grade. All our assessors have the stipulated qualifications and occupational competence as set out within the assessment plan.

Apprentices aged 16 to 18 at the start of their training who do not already hold a suitable equivalent qualification in either English or maths or both subjects are funded to achieve up to an approved Level 2 qualification in these subjects to complete their apprenticeship.

Apprentices aged 19+ at the start of their training can also be funded to study up to an approved Level 2 qualification in English or maths or both, if they do not already hold suitable equivalent qualifications and their employer agrees that this should be part of their training plan.

The Department for Education (DfE) publishes guidance on maths and English qualifications, or evidence accepted as a suitable equivalent qualification. The guidance also includes information on what is deemed to be acceptable evidence of qualification achievement. This guidance can be found here.

Open Awards refers to this DfE guidance when determining what evidence of maths and English achievement we can accept.

If you would like more information about Open Awards Functional Skills qualifications in Mathematics and English, please click here or contact us on 0151 494 2072 or enquiries@openawards.org.uk.

The cost will depend on the apprenticeship Standard your apprentices are registered on. Please see the individual Standard information for more information.

There is no cost to signing up with Open Awards to deliver Apprenticeship Assessment with you. We charge a nominal registration fee of 5% of the overall cost, with the remaining 95% payable when your apprentice reaches gateway to completion.

No, there are no minimum number of apprentices or assessments required. We are set up to support employers with one (1) apprentice, or employers with hundreds of apprentices.

If you know you want to use Open Awards to deliver your Apprenticeship Assessment, please complete the Expression of Interest form. A member of the team will contact you to talk you through your requirements and discuss next steps.

The training provider is responsible for selecting and negotiating the price with the Apprenticeship Assessment Organisation unless the employer wishes to do so directly. A list of approved Apprenticeship Assessment Organisations can be found from the Department for Education’s apprenticeship provider and assessment register (APAR) .

Common issues with gateway to completion rejections are due to gateway authenticity forms submissions being inconsistencies or having incorrect details.

Common areas:

• Incorrect details on gateway form. For example- does the apprentice name on the gateway form, match the name on the apprentices certificates, or will a deed poll be required to show proof of new name.
• Inconsistent dates on form (signature dates must be the day of the gateway meeting or after, not before).
• Incorrect ULN’s. Unique Learner Number consists of a 10-digit number and is unique to the individual learner. This is required to claim the learners certificates.
• Incorrect D.O.B’s- Does this match the date of birth on the learners certificates.
• Typed signatures (needs to be a wet signature or a digital signature) support for this can be accessed through our Portal system.
• Meeting the minimum requirements for length of time on program.
• Documents not being filled in out in full.

This is the earliest anticipated gateway to completion date for the apprentice(s) on that course run.