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Ofqual intends to fine awarding organisation City & Guilds £200,000 for failing to resolve problems with its governance and incident management systems.

The fine covers a series of breaches of Ofqual’s Conditions of Recognition over two time periods, during 2018 to 2019 and 2022 to 2023.

The breaches included errors in assessment materials which should have been detected by City & Guilds’ quality assurance processes, and a failure to notify Ofqual sufficiently quickly when many of the incidents were found. 

Following the issues in 2018 and 2019, City & Guilds had developed an action plan which was intended to resolve the issues and prevent a recurrence. However, an Ofqual investigation in summer 2023 found many of the same issues had reoccurred. As part of that investigation, City & Guilds has admitted that its action plan was not sufficiently robust. 

As part of the work with Ofqual, City & Guilds has committed to implement a multi-million pound programme to improve its business operations. This involves improved risk management, strengthened governance, and investments in training, systems, and processes, some of which have already been addressed.

Ofqual Chief Regulator Sir Ian Bauckham said:

The interests of students are central to Ofqual. For us, that means high-quality qualifications that stand the test of time so it’s our job to make sure standards are maintained and rules followed.

City & Guilds has co-operated from the beginning and their latest improvement plan promises to be strong. An improved approach, along with the fine, should allow everyone to draw a line under these issues and go forward with a renewed sense of confidence.

Ofqual has published a Notice setting out its proposal to fine City & Guilds, which describes further details of the case.