Withdrawal of CPC qualifications

Withdrawal of CPC qualifications 26 February 2021

This update was originally published on 23 September 2020 and has been amended to confirm the Annual Centre Fee arrangements. We have also added Skills and Education Group Awards as an alternative provider of CPC qualifications.

Withdrawal of Certificate of Professional Competence for Transport Managers (Passenger Transport and Road Haulage) qualifications

After reviewing our strategy in the coming years, we’ve decided not to continue to offer qualifications in the transport sector. We will not redevelop our existing CPC qualifications and we intend to withdraw from offering any CPC qualifications after December 2021.

We’ve taken this difficult decision because we are focusing our core activity on providing qualifications for 14 to 19 learners in schools, sixth forms and FE colleges.

To support CPC centres and learners over the next 15 months, we will offer five further opportunities for scheduled tests before the qualification is withdrawn. These are planned to take place in December 2020, March 2021, June 2021, September 2021 and December 2021.

This means new candidates taking CPC tests in December 2020 will have up to four resit opportunities, and new candidates in March 2021 will have a further three resit opportunities.

As part of our withdrawal arrangements, we are not accepting any new CPC centres after today. We will accept new candidates up to and including March 2021.

We will continue to support everyone offering and taking CPC tests so that assessments can go ahead as smoothly as possible in 2020 and 2021. We have talked to two awarding organisations who offer CPC – the Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport (CILT) and City & Guilds – about our plans. We are committed to helping to support you in transitioning to alternative awarding organisations. We've also informed key stakeholders, such as our regulators, the Department for Transport and the Traffic Commissioners, about our decision.

We are very grateful for the loyalty of our many CPC centres over the years, and we’d like to thank you for your custom. We regret losing any qualifications but we need to focus on supporting our core portfolio for 14 to 19 year olds.

If you have any questions about this news, we are here to help. You can call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email us at vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk.

Helping you and your learners

Please take a look at some frequently asked questions we’ve provided below to help you and your learners:

Frequently asked questions for centres
Frequently asked questions for learners

Frequently asked questions for centres

When is OCR withdrawing CPC?

The last test session will be December 2021.

How many more CPC test opportunities will there be?

We plan to provide five more test sessions: December 2020, March 2021, June 2021, September 2021 and December 2021.

Why is OCR withdrawing CPC now?

Following a review of our strategy for the coming years, we’ve taken the difficult decision to focus on our core activity, which is providing qualifications for 14-19 learners in schools, sixth forms, and FE colleges.

Are there any other providers of CPC?

Yes, there are three other providers of CPC:

City & Guilds and the Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport (CILT) offer CPC for Transport Managers (Level 3) Road Haulage
CILT also offers CPC for Transport Managers (Level 3) Passenger Transport.

To contact City & Guilds, please go to email updates and sign up for Transport Maintenance > Automotive. To contact CILT, please email ao@ciltuk.org.uk.

Skills and Education Group Awards are pleased to be able to offer the Road Haulage and Passenger Transport CPC qualifications from April 2021. The new qualifications will be closely aligned to the OCR format and they have committed to updating the content of the CPC qualifications prior to launch, to ensure that they take into account the latest Brexit legislation. See our FAQ for further information.

When will CPC centres have to move to another awarding organisation for CPC tests?

If you are a current OCR-approved centre, you can continue to offer CPC to new candidates up to and including the March 2021 session. The June, September and December sessions 2021 will be available as resit sessions only. This gives CPC centres eight months to obtain centre approval with either City & Guilds or CILT if required.

Will a learner’s part achievement with OCR (passing either the multiple choice or the case study) count if we move to a new awarding organisation?

This is something we are currently discussing with the two awarding organisations - City & Guilds and the Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport (CILT). It will be for those two organisations to decide if they recognise a learner’s part achievement.

What are the differences between City & Guilds, CILT and OCR CPC qualifications?

You will need to contact the individual awarding organisations for details of their specifications.

Will CPC centres continue to be inspected?

We will continue to inspect a sample of centres during each test session.

My centre only recently became approved to deliver CPC. Why wasn’t I told about these plans at the time?

Our decision follows a recent review of our strategy and our priorities. We have decided not to re-develop this qualification but we will allow 15 months for learners to complete their qualification. We will not approve any new centres for CPC from 23 September 2020.

Will my centre still be charged the Annual Centre Fee?

We updated this FAQ on 23/10/2020: We will not charge the Annual Centre Fee in September 2020 for the academic year 2020/21. This is a change from what we said in our withdrawal announcement on 23 September 2020. We will not charge an Annual Centre Fee for CPC-only centres in September 2021 for the academic year 2021/22 either. Please note, this applies to any centre that only offers CPC qualifications with OCR.

Can we still be approved for additional venues (for tests) as we are now?

Yes, our existing process will continue until the final test session in December 2021.

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Frequently asked questions for learners

As a learner, when will I be able to take the OCR CPC tests?

OCR will be offering both Road Haulage and Passenger Transport CPC examinations as follows:

December 2020
March 2021
June 2021 (resit only)
September 2021 (resit only)
December 2021 (resit only)

What happens if I have only achieved one of the two units by December 2021?

You will need to take your qualification with an alternative awarding organisation. It will be for that awarding organisation to decide whether they will give credit for your part-achievement.

Do I have to resit my CPC test at the same centre?

No, you can take your CPC test at any OCR-approved centre.

As a learner, my training provider no longer offers OCR CPC. Where can I resit my OCR CPC test?

The OCR Customer Support Centre can give you details of other OCR CPC centres in your area that may be able to offer you a resit opportunity. Please contact our Customer Support Team on 01223 553998 or email us at vocational.qualifications@ocr.org.uk.

As a learner, if I lose my OCR CPC certificate in the future, will I be able to get a replacement from OCR?

Yes, our Certificate Replacement Service will continue to offer this service, as they do now.

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