What is the Head of Centre declaration?

As part of the JCQ General Regulations, all Heads of Centre must complete an annual declaration to confirm your centre is adhering to the regulations and guidelines. 

These regulations and guidelines have been established to make sure the integrity and security of the examination/assessment system is maintained at all times and is not brought into disrepute. Therefore, failure to complete this declaration will result in your centre status being suspended and could lead to awarding bodies withdrawing their approval of your centre, as outlined in section 1 of the JCQ General Regulations. 

How do we complete the declaration?

OCR, on behalf of the JCQ, will email the declaration request directly to the Head of Centre contact we hold as part of the NCN (national centre number) Register shortly after we send the NCN annual update to exams officers. 

You will then be given until 31 October to complete the online declaration survey. This must only be completed by the Head of Centre and cannot be delegated to another member of staff unless they are the acting Head of Centre. 

What happens after the declaration is completed?

We will send a PDF of the declaration to the Head of Centre once the online version has been completed. This may not be immediately after you submit the survey and will not contain a copy of the answers you send to us.

The JCQ Inspection Service will not ask to see a signed copy of the declaration but if you wish to keep a copy for your own records, please feel free to do so. 

Please do not send a copy back to the NCN team – all we need is the completed survey.