Assessment reform: what the transition actually means
Every assessment plan is being rewritten, one group at a time, and both old and new rules are live simultaneously.
Skills England is revising all apprenticeship assessment plans. The rollout began in October 2025 and runs in phases across a 12 to 18 month transition, prioritising Group 1 — standards aligned with the Industrial Strategy.
The direction is towards proportionality. Assessment should match the competency being tested and remove duplication; where appropriate it can take place throughout the apprenticeship rather than only at the end; and providers will be able to deliver and mark elements of assessment. Assessment organisations, previously called end-point assessment organisations, continue to design assessments and assure the validity of outcomes. There is also more scope for remote assessment. Employers will be required to confirm behaviours before gateway.
What it changed from: a uniform end-point assessment model where all assessment sat at the end, was delivered entirely by an independent EPAO, and followed a fixed plan per standard.
Progress as of mid-2026: more than 100 reformed assessment plans are complete, and 328 standards are in development, with 108 having entered development in a single month. Draft plans are being published for public consultation.
What follows, and this is the operational headache: until a given standard's revised plan is approved and available for starts, the existing EPA rules still apply to it. That means providers are running two assessment regimes side by side, sometimes within the same curriculum area, for a year or more. Track which of your standards have moved and which have not, because assuming either way will cause problems.