JCQ exam access arrangements in further education colleges

September in an FE college brings a wave of new learners, many resitting GCSE English and maths, many arriving with a school’s access arrangements, and some with none despite clear need. The exam access arrangements process has to work at speed, with evidence that stands up to a JCQ centre inspection. This guide sets out what the current JCQ regulations require, what is different for colleges, and a practical routine for the year.

It summarises the rules. The JCQ document is long and detailed, and it is the authority. Read the relevant sections before you make decisions.

What are exam access arrangements?

Access arrangements are agreed before an assessment. They let a candidate with special educational needs, a disability or a temporary injury access the assessment and show what they know, without changing the demands of the assessment. The JCQ regulations say the aim is to remove barriers to assessment without compromising its integrity or giving an unfair advantage.

They sit alongside the legal duty. Awarding bodies, as qualifications bodies, must make reasonable adjustments for disabled candidates under section 96 of the Equality Act 2010, and Ofqual requires them to publish their arrangements. The JCQ document, Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments, is how the JCQ member awarding bodies set out those arrangements for general and many vocational qualifications.

Special consideration is different. It is applied after an exam, where illness, injury or another event affected a candidate at the time. The access arrangements glossary entry gives a short definition.

Which JCQ access arrangements rules apply in 2026/27?

The current document is valid from 1 September 2025 and was updated in March 2026. JCQ states that these regulations continue to apply during the 2026/27 academic year. JCQ also publishes supplementary guidance, infographics and forms, some updated for 2026/27, including a Form 9 for 2026/27 and a guide to evidencing 25% extra time in colleges. Check the JCQ regulations and guidance page at the start of each term for updates.

Who is responsible for exam access arrangements in a college?

The SENCo, or an equivalent member of staff within an FE college, leads the process. JCQ is clear that the decisions rest with the centre, not with outside professionals. In practice, most colleges have an access arrangements lead or team within learning support, working with the exams office.

The lead needs to:

• decide which arrangements are appropriate, based on evidence of need and normal way of working
• make sure assessments are carried out by a suitably qualified assessor
• process applications through Access arrangements online where required
• keep evidence available for a JCQ centre inspector, on paper or in an electronic folder for each candidate
• make sure invigilators, readers and scribes are briefed and appropriate

What is “normal way of working”?

It is the support the candidate actually uses in class, in tests and in mock exams. JCQ says arrangements must not suddenly be granted at exam time. If a candidate has never used an arrangement, it is not their normal way of working.

This is the most common gap in colleges, for a simple reason: learners arrive in September and sit some exams in November. The JCQ guidance for colleges is practical about this:

• gather early evidence through short, timed classroom tasks and teacher feedback
• full mock exams are not required
• evidence can be gathered during existing marking and does not need to come from every subject
• colleges do not need to create additional burdensome processes
• timed classroom work showing a change of pen colour or font at the point extra time started is acceptable evidence

What are Forms 8 and 9?

They are the evidence forms for the two main routes.

The assessor’s qualification must be evidenced. A Form 8 acts like a passport that can travel with the candidate, but the receiving SENCo must check it is complete, signed and dated.

How does 25% extra time work?

For learning difficulties, a candidate generally needs two below average standardised scores of 84 or less, in two different areas of speed of working. One score of 84 or less plus one of 85 to 89 can also qualify. Two scores of 85 to 89 need an online referral to the awarding body.

For candidates with communication, sensory, physical, medical or mental health needs, the route is Form 9, without standardised scores.

Other points from the regulations:

• Consider supervised rest breaks first, especially for anxiety or attention difficulties. Rest breaks do not need an application through Access arrangements online, but the SENCo must complete the statement on Form 8 or Form 9 for GCSE and GCE. A single rest break should normally be no more than 30 minutes, and an invigilator must accompany a candidate who leaves the room.
• Extra time is not allowed where literacy difficulties are mainly caused by English, Irish or Welsh not being the candidate’s first language.
• More than 25% needs a strong justification and a substantial body of centre-based evidence. For learning difficulties, up to 50% requires very substantially below average scores of 69 or less, assessed within 26 months of the final exam. More than 50% is very exceptional.
• Readers and computer readers must be processed through Access arrangements online.

What is different for learners arriving at college?

Most of the college-specific rules are about reusing school evidence. JCQ’s 2026 guidance for colleges says:

• GCSE resits and Level 1 and 2 vocational qualifications. Forms 8 and 9 from schools may be reused if they are complete, signed and dated. A Form 8 must come with evidence of the assessor’s qualification. A Form 9 needs specialist or medical evidence, or an EHC plan.
• Missing or incomplete forms. Gather new evidence, using the same principles of need and normal way of working.
• Level 1 and 2 vocational qualifications. Teacher feedback is not required; one or two assessment examples from the new course are helpful but not mandatory.
• Functional Skills. Level 1 and Level 2 each need one piece of assessment evidence with teacher feedback. Moving between Functional Skills levels needs no new evidence; moving to GCSE needs updated assessment evidence.
• Moving to Level 3. The main regulations require new Form 8 or Form 9 evidence when a candidate moves from GCSE to A level or other Level 3 qualifications.

Transition is the best time to collect evidence. Ask schools for access arrangements information as part of school-to-college transition, and use the transition information summary template so the right documents arrive in July, not October.

How should a college run access arrangements across the year?

A simple annual routine:

1. Summer term (before enrolment). Request access arrangements evidence from schools with transition information. Flag learners with EHC plans and known needs.
2. Enrolment and induction. Ask every learner whether they had arrangements before and what helped. Record it in their own words.
3. First half term. Check reused forms. Arrange assessments for learners without evidence. Set up short timed tasks to build normal way of working evidence. Process applications for the first exam series.
4. Before each series. Confirm arrangements, brief invigilators, readers and scribes, book rooms and equipment, and check technology works.
5. After each series. Ask learners whether the arrangements worked. Adjust for the next series.
6. Throughout. Keep each candidate’s evidence in one folder, ready for inspection.

Fictional example. Tom joins a college in September to resit GCSE maths. His school sends a complete, signed Form 8 with the assessor’s qualification evidence, showing 25% extra time. The college checks it, records Tom’s view that extra time helps but he also struggles to read long questions, and his maths teacher sets two short timed tasks in October. Tom uses extra time in both. The access arrangements lead processes extra time using the school Form 8, and arranges a separate assessment to look at whether a computer reader is appropriate before the summer series.

What about apprentices and other assessments?

JCQ rules cover the qualifications its members offer, including GCSEs, A levels, Functional Skills and many vocational qualifications. Other awarding organisations publish their own reasonable adjustments policies, as Ofqual’s Condition G6 requires. Apprenticeship assessment is decided by the assessment organisation; see reasonable adjustments in end-point assessment.

How should you handle the data?

Access arrangements evidence is often health and disability information, which is special category data. The current JCQ document says the candidate personal data consent form and the data protection confirmation form are no longer required, but candidates must be told that their applications are processed through Access arrangements online in line with UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Keep evidence where only the people who need it can see it, and keep it only as long as your retention schedule says. See our guide to special category data in education.

What are the common inspection findings to avoid?

• arrangements granted with no evidence of normal way of working
• Form 8 Part 1 missing or completed after the assessment
• no evidence of the assessor’s qualification
• school forms accepted without checking they are complete, signed and dated
• readers or scribes who are inappropriate, such as a relative or a peer
• evidence not available when the inspector visits

How does Inclusion Studio support this process?

Inclusion Studio is learner support software being built for FE colleges and apprenticeship providers in England, currently pre-pilot with a prototype using fictional learners. It is not an exams system and does not process Access arrangements online applications. It is designed to hold the learner support side: what the learner says helps, the support plan they agreed, documents in private storage released only to authorised people, and delivery records that can show support used in class. Access arrangements decisions stay with the SENCo or equivalent under the JCQ regulations.