In October, Ofqual confirmed the measures they have asked awarding bodies, schools and colleges to implement to ensure the timely delivery of results for students taking vocational qualifications this academic year and beyond. 

These include a term-time checkpoint for schools and colleges to confirm which students need a result in August to progress to higher or further education and issuing results with enough time to check and prepare them for final release to students. 

Read on for details of how we’re implementing these measures to support schools and students. A timeline showing the OCR key dates and activities is also available from the OCR website. 

If your school or college does not meet the agreed deadlines, there is a significant risk your students will not receive their results on results day and this may prompt a maladministration investigation.

New: estimated completion dates!

Last year, we asked you to tell us which students were expecting a result in the summer. To support you this year, we are introducing an estimated completion date based on the date you made your qualification entries.  

We will assume Level 3 qualifications are being taken over two years and Level 2 qualifications over one year. For example, if you made Level 3 qualification entries in autumn 2022, the estimated completion date will be ‘Summer 2024’.  

From the middle of March 2024, you will be able to use the Cambridge Technicals Progress Tracker to view the estimated completion dates. You must update the estimated completion dates for any students who are not following the above timescales or who have been registered after the start of the course. 

Schools and colleges will have until 30 April 2024 to make sure the estimated completion date is correct for all students with a qualification entry (registration).  

You must make sure all students who need results to progress to HE or FE in summer 2024 have a qualification entry and the estimated completion date is showing as ‘Summer 2024’.  

Term-time checkpoint: complete the declaration

You must submit a declaration to confirm all the estimated completion dates are correct by 30 April 2024. This is the term-time checkpoint.

Exams officers will be able to do this within the Cambridge Technicals Progress Tracker from March 2024.

Teachers will be able to check the estimated completion dates for their own subjects. The declaration and any amendments to the estimated completion date, should be submitted by the exams officer. 

Planning moderation visits

If moderation visits take place after 30 June, this may mean that units and related qualification achievements are not available by results day. All teachers must be aware:

• The moderation visit must be arranged by 15 May.
• Claims must be submitted at least two weeks before the visit. (If a moderation visit is planned for 30 June, the last date to submit a claim is 15 June.)

Making sure all students are eligible for a qualification result

Students without the required unit achievements will not receive a result by results day.  

To support you to identify and resolve issues for students who are not eligible to receive their full qualification award, we will be updating the Cambridge Technicals Progress Tracker.  

The Progress Tracker will identify ineligible students based on the units already achieved, exam entries and claims for moderated units. The Progress Tracker will update daily to include any new activity such as new unit results, exam entries or moderation claims.

If students leave the course or will be taking longer to complete the course after you submit the estimated completion date declaration, you can amend the completion date to remove them from the list of students certificating in summer 2024.

Issuing results

In summer 2024, as we did in summer 2023, we will publish results on the Monday before A Level results day (12 August 2024). 

Results can be issued to students as soon as they are released although schools and colleges may wish to issue them at the same time as A Level results. 

We will also let you know if any of the students you told us as part of the checkpoint who need a Cambridge Technicals qualification result in summer 2024 are not eligible to receive the result they have been entered for. 

If you have any queries about this update, please call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email support@ocr.org.uk.