Apprentice flexibilities and temporary discretions

Important changes are being made to the way end-point assessment (EPA) will be delivered from 1 April based on the Government’s announcement of a move to the Covid-19 Plan A. Read on to understand how this might affect your apprentices...

Apprentices who have their first assessment booked to take place from 1 April 2022 onwards

Apprentices will be assessed against the requirements of the original pre-Covid-19 EPA assessment plan methods. This also includes apprentices who are currently ‘back into learning’ and who will be required to retake their EPA in total from 1 April 2022.

Apprentices starting EPA assessment before the end of March 2022 but completing in April 2022

Apprentices can continue to make use of the temporary COVID-19 discretion. This includes apprentices who are currently 'suspended' or those who are ‘back into learning’.

NB EPAOs must discuss and agree action with the EQAP if the EPA cannot be completed before the end of April 2022.

Apprentices completing EPA assessments using the temporary COVID-19 discretion before 31 March 2022

Apprentices who complete their EPA assessments using the temporary COVID-19 discretion before 31st March 2022, but who require a resit / retake, are permitted to use the discretion, even if their resit / retake is completed after 1 April 2022.

In all cases

COVID-19 discretions that have been switched off cannot be used as part of an EPAO’s reasonable adjustment or special consideration policy.

Innovate Awarding continues to promote remote assessments where possible.

The tables below show which of the standards we offer require a face-to-face assessment, and which do not.

TABLE 1

Standards where temporary discretions expire on 31 March 2022

Exceptions

There are, however, some exceptions and some standards have had the temporary discretions extended beyond the end of March 2022.

From 1 April 2022 we will need to know in advance if employers and / or apprentices wish to use discretions for the standards listed below. If an employer decides that they want all of their apprentices to continue to use the discretion’s, we just need written notification from the training provider that this is the case. Please email notifications to epa@innovateawarding.org

No written notification is required if an employer’s apprentices are to be assessed against the requirements of the original pre Covid-19 EPA assessment plan methods (as per Innovate Awarding’s communicated approach above).

For more information on the standards where temporary discretions have been extended download the pdf

TABLE 2

Standards where temporary discretions extend until 30 June 2022

TABLE 3

Standards where temporary discretions extend until 31 December 2022

TABLE 4

Standards that will continue to be assessed against the requirements of the original EPA plan

The following standards that are offered by Innovate Awarding have never had any temporary discretion and so will continue to be assessed against the requirements of the original EPA plan.

As previously communicated in our client newsletter on Monday 3 January 2022, IfATE has released updated guidance, which can be viewed here. You can also view IfATE’s Flexibility Framework here.

Please rest assured that we will continue to work with you to ensure all apprentices are given the opportunity to complete their end-point assessments appropriately and in a timely fashion.

For more information call 0117 314 2800 or email epa@innovateawarding.org.