Ofqual qualification price index data published

New index looks at how prices for assessments change over time.

We have today (Thursday 5 September 2019) published our first Qualification Price Index (QPI) report, an annual set of data looking at price movements in the regulated qualifications market. The QPI uses a representative ‘basket’ of qualifications to track price movements, in a similar way to how the Consumer Price Index tracks the price of consumer goods.

As well as identifying price movements over time in the market as a whole, the new index gives users the ability to divide the market to show, for example, how a basket of representative qualification prices in the construction sector has moved, compared to prices for qualifications in the business, administration and law sector.

This additional transparency will help everyone in the qualifications system, including schools, colleges and awarding organisations, to make informed decisions about qualifications. It may highlight, for example, where market pressure points are, where consumer interest is waning, or where a new market is emerging with insufficient capacity.

This year’s report shows overall price increases of 4.5% in 2019, with vocational & technical qualifications increasing on average by 3.3% and general qualifications rising by 5.6%.

This is a new area of work to support our objective of ensuring that qualifications are provided efficiently to users and represent value for money. Today’s report follows a pilot version earlier in the year, which was well received by stakeholders when we shared it with them. In the future, we intend to collect and publish this data on an annual basis.