A warm welcome to 2026 to all our valued partners. I hope you have had a wonderful start to what is expected to be a year full of exciting opportunities for our sector.

The apprenticeship assessment reforms is a major change that we will navigate together. At Innovate we had a busy run into the end of year, and we’ve been busy in dialogue with Skills England, Ofqual, FAB, AELP and others to press for maximum clarity. Whilst much remains to be seen, we have started planning to embrace the changes with confidence and positivity. This reform programme is the most significant change we have seen since the introduction of End-point Assessment in 2017 and offers us the invaluable opportunity to be part of the evolution of the way apprenticeships look and feel – both to enhance the experience for our apprentices and to elevate the apprenticeship brand in the UK education system. 

We were delighted to have the opportunity to share our proposals at the AELP apprenticeship assessment summit last week and received overwhelmingly positive feedback on our sessions, as well as some new ideas from providers which we have already started to integrate into our thinking.

We will be sharing our approach more widely over the coming weeks but if you have any questions or would like to discuss anything with us in the meantime, please do not hesitate to reach out – either to your usual contact in our Client Relationship Team or to hello@innovateawarding.org 

Operational changes/reminders

REMINDER: Apprentices with start dates from 1st August 2025

In line with the 25/26 funding rules, any apprentices who started their apprenticeship from 1st August 2025 onwards, can enter gateway after a minimum of 8 months.

To ensure epaPRO allows apprentices to enter at 8 months when required, all versions of standards which were live at 1st August have been duplicated to provide a setup of that standard version with an 8 month minimum duration. These have been labelled “(starts from 1st August 25)”.

Please ensure that for all registrations of apprentices who started after 1st August 2025, you select the build of the standard which has “(starts from 1st August 25)” in the title.

If you have any questions please get in touch with your usual Client Relationship Team contact or epa@innovateawarding.org

REMINDER: Calendar Integration from 5th January

From 5th January 2026, assessment bookings on epaPRO are now integrated with Microsoft Teams.

This will not impact any processes for you or your apprentices, but will mean some small changes to the appearance of the calendar invites which the apprentices now receive, as these are now being sent by the system rather than the EPA.

REMINDER: Reasonable Adjustment Request Process

Reasonable Adjustments can now be submitted through epaPRO. Guidance document and video are available within the guidance category of Support Materials on epaPRO, named:

• Reasonable Adjustment Process for Providers - Apprenticeship Assessment

• VIDEO: How to submit a Reasonable Adjustment request on epaPRO

We will continue to accept Reasonable Adjustments through the current process until further notice.

Standards Updates

Change to minimum duration:

• Level 3 Production Assistant v1.3 - change to minimum duration

Change to Subject Sector Area:

The following standards have had changes to the version number from Skills England, but there are no changes to content or assessment.

• Level 3 Customer Service Specialist v1.3

• Level 4 Policy Officer v1.2

• Level 4 Learning and Skills Mentor v1.3

• Level 4 Lead Practitioner in Adult Care v1.2

• Level 5 Learning and Development Consultant Business Partner v1.1

• Level 5 Specialist Teaching Assistant v1.1

Change to Assessment plan:

Level 4 Associate Project Manager v1.5 - amendments to the pass and distinction grading descriptor for K20 and S8 under research, analysis and evaluation theme - support materials are being created.

Our Client Relationship Team will be in touch if you have any of these standards in your contract, to add the new versions to your account so that you will be able to access the support materials once available on epaPRO.

Previous Standard Versions

In line with our Position Statement on Version Control of IfATE Apprenticeship Assessment Plans, our last registration / gateway date on epaPRO is set based on the typical duration of the apprenticeship from the latest start date for the version, plus an additional 12 months. We have a number of apprenticeship versions with a Last registration / last gateway date coming up in the next 6 months:

Level 5 Healthcare Assistant Practitioner v1.0 31/01/2026

Level 7 Game Programmer v1.1 12/02/2026

Level 3 Senior Healthcare Support Worker v1.3 02/04/2026

Level 2 Community Activator Coach V1.0 12/05/2026

Level 3 Customer Service Specialist V1.0 11/05/2026

Level 2 Community Activator Coach V1.1 20/06/2026

Level 4 Lead Practitioner in Adult Care 21/06/2026