EpAO Business Planning in 2025: Part 3: 10 Other Areas that may Shape your Business
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In my third and final article in this series, I explore other areas that may impact or influence EpAO business planning in 2025. My previous articles around EpAO business planning can be accessed here
Generative AI
There is no escaping the explosion of AI. It provides amazing opportunities, but also brings with it risks, so EpAOs must robustly investigate its potential before committing to its use. I do feel that the regulators may be a little behind the curve on AI which is hindering the development of real opportunities across the sector, but the sector can use this to their advantage – be innovative – explore and test how it can be used and prove to the regulators how ongoing reliability and validity is ensured. But remember, don’t just start using it, work with the regulator to prove its reliability and validity in line with their published approach, and back that up with a comprehensive policy / approach on the use of AI across your EpAO and your customers.
External Quality Assurance of Degree Apprenticeships
During 2024 the OfS have been carrying out EQA visits of degree apprenticeship EPA providers. It will be interesting to see if they publish a report of lessons learnt and best practice to support the sector, alongside any changes to their approach should some level 7 apprenticeships move away from public funding.
EpAO Expansion to Full AO Status
2024 was the year we began to see some EpAOs expanding their portfolio to become awarding organisations for other qualifications. This is an exciting space to watch, but any EpAO wishing to make this transition must ensure they are aware of the time and commitment it takes to do this. I am hoping that Ofqual provide more guidance around this process as the current expansion of scope procedure is misleading in terms of how much is required to make this transition. It is an area I will be producing articles about during 2025 to support the diversification of the sector.
Employer Involvement in Apprenticeships
Apprenticeships are highly politicised, but IfATE ensured the involvement of employers in the design of standards and their associated assessment plans. With the closure of IfATE and the move to Skills England I worry about whether employers will left out in the cold. The functions of Skills England sit directly under the secretary of State, and the Secretary of State has the ability to “prepare a standard if satisfied that it would be more appropriate for the standard to be prepared by the Secretary of State than by a group of persons”.
To Specialise or not to Specialise
I have had many discussions with EpAOs about EPA expansion to other standards and I am often asked whether it is better to specialise or provide a generic offering. I know this same question is being considered by training providers. My advice is to focus on what you do best which may be a particular sector, industry, or level, and to use the data available, customer feedback / profiles, and the detail of the assessment plans to determine financial and resource viability. With ever tightening budgets, and such variances in volumes across standards, it will be interesting to see how the EPA offerings evolve over time.
Non-Compliance
Ofqual technical evaluations of EPA/EPAOs really ramped up in 2024, I will watch with interest any reports from Ofqual around regulatory actions or interventions, as there are areas where I still regularly see non-compliance. An example is the publication of fees – many EpAOs are still not publishing their fees, or hiding them so far in their website that they are almost impossible to find, despite Condition F1 being clear – Awarding organisations must publish the qualification fee, must ensure it is kept up to date and is easily accessible to any potential purchaser without that person having to request it from, or provide any information to, the awarding organisation.
EpAO Number
Now that we longer have a register of EpAOs or APAR (for EpAOS) where will key information such as the EpAO number be stored? After all, providers need the EpAO number to complete their ILR returns (EPAOrgID field).
Devolution
whilst the skills agenda will be driven by the industrial strategy, it will be interesting to see if devolution impacts apprenticeship delivery across England. I would recommend EpAOs keep up to speed with local skills improvement plans when planning business and growth strategies.
Apprenticeship Certificates
The apprenticeship certificates currently contain the IfATE logo. What will happen to the certificates when IfATE close? I would also be interested in finding out if Ofqual will permit the inclusion of their logo on the certificates. Currently their logo cannot be used, but now that EpAOs are regulated by Ofqual perhaps the certificates should start to include the logo?
UCAS points and PARS
In December 2024 UCAS announced that Apprenticeships will be allocated UCAS Tariff points from next year, and in 2024 the Post-Apprenticeship Recognition Scheme was launched. I will watch with interest the impact of these two schemes of recognition.
I hope my series on EpAO business planning has been helpful. It has been built up based o experience and research and is designed to enable business development whilst ensuring ongoing compliance. If you are interested in keeping up to speed with policy and research you may be interested in my Friday Round ups as I capture updates as they are released alongside sharing hints and tips.
By Jacqui Molkenthin, Specialist support for End-point Assessment Organisations
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