As we approach the festive period, please see below some useful information on our arrangements for the Christmas/New Year period.
Open Awards offices will close for the festive period at 15:00 on Tuesday 23rd December 2025 and will reopen at 08:00 on Friday 2nd January 2026.
Open Awards Remote Invigilation
Functional Skills and End-point Assessment (EPA) Knowledge Tests
For our remote invigilation service of Functional Skills qualifications and End-point Assessment knowledge tests, the last accepted booking will be 14:00 on Monday 22nd December 2025. We will reopen for bookings from 09:00 on Friday 2nd January 2026.
Please note, the XAMS assessment platform will remain fully operational throughout the festive period for any assessments you invigilate yourselves. However, technical and customer service support will not be available between the closure dates detailed above.
End-Point Assessment (EPA) Bookings
The last accepted bookings for EPA will be 14:00 on Friday 19th December 2025, reopening for assessments at 09:00 on Friday 2nd January 2026.
Results Release
Please note, the period between 23rd December 2025 and 2nd January 2026 will not be counted as “working days” with regards to result release timeframes. Therefore, careful consideration should be given to the booking of assessments around this time.
Our last results release prior to Christmas will be on Tuesday 23rd December 2025, with the next results release taking place on Friday 2nd January 2026.
If this causes you any issues or concerns, please contact us as soon as possible to discuss. You can either ring us on 0151-494-2072 or email at [email protected]
The Open Awards team would like to wish you all a very happy and restful festive period.