It is the responsibility of the Head of Centre to make sure conflicts of interest are recorded and managed within your centre.

However, you only need to inform us about conflicts for qualifications which include internally assessed components or units.

We need to know about any members of centre staff who are taking these qualifications or who are teaching and preparing members of their family or close friends for them.

You must inform OCR about these conflicts of interest before the final entry deadline.

Entering members of centre staff for qualifications at their own centre should be a last resort where they have been unable to find another centre. You only need to let us know about this conflict if the member of staff is taking internally assessed components/units. All normal examination procedures should be followed to manage these instances, including making sure the member of centre staff does not have access to examination materials before the examination, and that they are treated as though they were any other candidate sitting the exam.

Members of the family includes step-family, foster family and similar close relationships. Immediate family refers to sons/daughters. You only need to let us know about this conflict if the teacher is making assessment decisions for internally assessed components/units. Please refer to the JCQ Instructions for conducting non-examination assessments and JCQ Instructions for conducting coursework so you know what to do with affected candidates' work.

You don’t need to notify OCR about these conflicts of interest but you must make sure that your centre maintains clear records of all instances where:

• Exams office staff have members of their family (which includes step-family, foster family and similar close relationships) or close friends and their immediate family (e.g. son/daughter) being entered for examinations and assessments either at the centre itself or other centres.
• Centre staff are taking qualifications at their centre which do not include internally assessed components/units.
• Centre staff are taking qualifications at other centres.

These records must include details of what measures have been put in place to mitigate any potential risk to the integrity of the qualifications affected. These records may be inspected by a JCQ inspector and/or awarding body staff. They might be requested in the event of concerns being reported to an awarding body. You must keep these records until the deadline for reviews of marking has passed or until any appeal, malpractice or other results enquiry has been completed.

For more information, please see Section 5.3 of the JCQ General Regulations.