Ofqual is the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation — the body that regulates exams and qualifications in England. It does not run schools, write papers or mark scripts. Its job is to make sure qualifications are valid, that grades mean the same across exam boards, and that standards hold steady over time.
What Ofqual is responsible for
Ofqual is a non-ministerial government department, deliberately kept at arm's length from ministers so that decisions about standards are not political ones. Its responsibilities fall into a few clear areas.
Recognising awarding organisations. An exam board cannot simply decide to award a regulated qualification. It must be recognised by Ofqual and meet its conditions — covering everything from the security of question papers to how appeals are handled.
Maintaining standards between boards. AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR and WJEC Eduqas compete for schools' business. Ofqual's role is to ensure they do not compete on how generously they grade. A grade 6 is intended to mean the same thing regardless of which board awarded it.
Maintaining standards over time. Question papers vary slightly in difficulty from year to year, and cohorts differ. Ofqual oversees the awarding process that adjusts for this, so that a grade earned this year is broadly comparable to the same grade earned in other years.
Overseeing the qualifications themselves. Ofqual sets rules about how qualifications are designed and assessed, and monitors whether assessments genuinely measure what they claim to.
Acting when things go wrong. Where a board fails to meet its conditions, Ofqual can require it to put things right and, in serious cases, apply sanctions.
Ofqual is not Ofsted — the difference matters
These two are constantly confused, and the distinction is simple once seen.
| Ofqual | Ofsted | |
|---|---|---|
| Regulates | Qualifications and exams | Schools and other providers |
| Looks at | Whether a grade is trustworthy | Whether a school provides a good education |
| Produces | Rules, standards, reports on the exam system | Inspection reports on individual schools |
| Affects your child via | The GCSE or A-Level grade they receive | The school they attend |
Put crudely: Ofsted inspects the school; Ofqual guards the grade. If you have a concern about teaching quality at your child's school, that is an Ofsted-adjacent matter and, first, a matter for the school itself. If you have a concern about whether a grade was awarded properly, that runs through the exam board's own review and appeals process — and Ofqual sits behind that system as regulator.
Why comparable outcomes matter to your child
Parents sometimes read that "grade boundaries went down this year" and conclude the exams were made easier, or that a cohort was let off lightly. What is usually happening is the opposite of arbitrariness.
Boundaries are set after papers have been sat, using evidence about how the cohort performed and how similar cohorts performed previously. If a particular paper turned out harder than intended, the boundary for a grade moves down so that pupils are not penalised for the paper's difficulty rather than their own performance. If it was easier, the boundary moves up. The aim is that the grade reflects the pupil's attainment rather than the luck of which year they happened to sit in.
This is why a raw mark on a past paper is only loosely informative until you check it against that paper's actual boundaries — and why comparing a mark from one year's paper with another year's boundaries can mislead.
What Ofqual does not do
Being clear about the limits saves families a lot of misdirected effort:
- It does not mark papers. Marking is done by examiners appointed by the exam boards.
- It does not handle individual results queries. A request to review a mark goes to the exam board, submitted through the school.
- It does not decide which board a school uses. That is a departmental choice within each school.
- It does not set the national curriculum. Curriculum content requirements come from government; Ofqual regulates how qualifications assess them.
- It does not inspect schools. That is Ofsted.
Does Ofqual cover the whole UK?
No. Ofqual regulates qualifications in England. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have their own arrangements, with their own regulators and awarding bodies, which is one reason qualifications across the four nations are similar in spirit but not identical in detail. If your family has moved between nations, expect the structure of the exam system to differ, not just the name on the certificate.
What this means practically for parents
Three takeaways are worth carrying:
- Do not chase an "easier board." The system is designed to remove that as a strategy, and departments choose boards on teaching fit, not leniency.
- Interpret past-paper scores with the right boundaries. A mark means little without the boundaries from the same paper.
- Route concerns correctly. School quality goes to the school. A results concern goes to the exam board, via the school's exams officer, within the published deadlines for that series.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ofqual the same as Ofsted?
No. Ofqual regulates qualifications, exams and assessments — it is concerned with whether a grade is valid and comparable. Ofsted inspects schools, colleges and other providers and reports on the quality of education they provide. They are separate organisations with separate remits, and a complaint aimed at one will not be handled by the other.
Does Ofqual decide GCSE grade boundaries?
Not directly. Exam boards set grade boundaries for their own papers after the exams have been sat, using statistical evidence and examiner judgement. Ofqual regulates that process — overseeing the approach the boards take so that standards remain comparable between boards and across years — rather than choosing the numbers itself.
Can parents contact Ofqual about their child's results?
Individual results enquiries are not handled by Ofqual. If you believe a grade is wrong, the route is a review of marking or an appeal, requested through your child's school to the relevant exam board within the deadlines published for that exam series. Ofqual's interest is in whether the system as a whole is working properly, not in re-marking individual scripts.
Does Ofqual regulate qualifications in Scotland and Wales?
No. Ofqual's remit covers England. Scotland's qualifications are the responsibility of Scottish bodies, Northern Ireland has its own regulatory arrangements, and Wales regulates its own qualifications separately. That is why GCSEs in Wales and Northern Ireland can differ in structure and grading detail from those sat in England, and why Scotland's Nationals and Highers are a different system altogether.
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