Welcome to the June edition of Innovate's updates. Here you will find everything you need to know this month across our Qualifications and Apprenticeship services.

Important: Portfolio of Evidence Non-Attendance

Where Apprenticeship Assessment plans include the wording ‘Apprentices must have access to the Portfolio of Evidence’, we must ensure apprentices do have their portfolio, to ensure they are assessed in line with the plan and not disadvantaged.

From the 1st August 2026, we will not go ahead with the assessment if the portfolio cannot be located. Any assessments which are terminated on this basis will be treated as a non-attendance, incurring the relevant charge for a Professional Discussion.

The outcome will be a Void (first occurrence) or Fail (second occurrence).

A full list of standards this applies for:

• Hospitality Accommodation Team Member

• Food and Beverage Team Member

• Senior Culinary Chef 

• Production Chef V1.2

• Chef De Partie

• Commis Chef V1.4

• Commis Chef V1.3

• Teaching Assistant V1.1

• Early Years Practitioner V1.0/1.1

• Early Years Educator V1.2/1.3/1.4/1.5

• Early Years Lead Practitioner V1.1

• Learning and Skills Assessor V1.0/1.1

• Learning and Skills Mentor V1.0/1.1/1.2/1.3

• Production Assistant

• Junior Production Assistant

• Supply Chain Warehouse Operative V1.1

• Retailer V1.2

• Policy officer

• Passenger Transport V1.2

• Team Leader V1.4

• Associate Project Manager V1.4/1.5

• Operations Manager V1.4

• Healthcare Support Worker

• Senior Healthcare Support Worker

Please note this list is correct at the time of publishing but as new Assessment Plan are published, any others which include the wording “Apprentices must have access to the Portfolio of Evidence” would be added to this list.

New and Updated Standards

Level 2 Adult Care Worker V2.0

Any apprentices starting from May 27th 2026 will now be on the new Level 2 Adult Care Apprenticeship. There is no apprenticeship assessment, just the Level 2 Adult Social Care Certificate. Innovate have developed Care Standard + to support providers and employers looking to enhance their offer and ensure carers have the specific skills they need. To read more, click here. 

Level 3 Improvement Technician v2.0

We will be delivering assessments for this new reformed apprenticeship standard, for starts from 28th October 2026. We are preparing the specification and support materials at the moment and hope to have some draft materials available from August 2026.

Level 2 Administration Assistant v1.0

We will be delivering assessments for this new reformed apprenticeship standard, for starts from 1st August 2026. We are preparing the specification and support materials at the moment and hope to have some draft materials available from July 2026

Level 3 Safeguarding Support Officer v1.0

Innovate have picked up the current version of this apprenticeship. We are preparing the specification and support materials at the moment and hope to have some draft materials available from July 2026.

New and Updated Support Materials

Level 4 Buying and Merchandising Assistant V1.0

Please ensure the latest support materials are being used to prepare apprentices following an update to KSBs and linked pass and distinction grading descriptors.

Previous Standard Versions

The standard versions currently approaching the gateway deadline within the next 6 months are:

Early Years Educator 1.2

Senior Healthcare Support Worker 1.4

Team Leader or Supervisor 1.2

Level 4 Lead Practitioner in Adult Care 1.0

Learning and Skills Mentor 1.1

Healthcare Assistant Practitioner 1.0

Proficient

Your thoughts?
We work closely with Skilltech, the company behind Proficient, so if you have any feedback please do let us know so that we can help to shape future improvements to the platform.

Forms and Policies

Reminder: Special Consideration Form Submission

We are introducing a timescale to some Special Consideration forms from 1st June 2026. Any requests that involve reviewing a non-attendance/Fail due to unforeseen circumstances for an apprentice must be submitted within 10 working days of the assessment decision being published on Proficient.

For example, this could include:

• Unexpected illness on the day of the assessment

• Unexpected family emergency on the day of the assessment

• Technology issues that have resulted in the assessment being stopped and a Fail being awarded

The forms will still need to be submitted to the Compliance mailbox (compliance@innovateawarding.org) and include appropriate supporting evidence for review.

New Qualifications

We are currently developing these qualifications and they will be available in August 2026:

Level 2 Award in Safeguarding and Protecting Children in Residential Care

Level 3 Award for the Early Years SENCO

Level 4 Award for the Higher Level Teaching Assistant

Reminder: Qualifications Pricing Review

We are currently undertaking our pricing review for our Qualifications offerings for the 26/27 academic year. Once this has been completed we will publish our new price list and share with all of our clients.