A regulated qualification through an existing awarding organisation: process and fees

How does the awarding organisation route work?

The route has three steps, and the awarding organisation controls each of them.

Centre approval comes first. Before it approves you, the awarding organisation checks your policies, your staff and the premises or platform you teach from. It is deciding whether to trust you with delivering and assessing its qualifications. Most charge a one-off approval fee and then an annual fee on top.

With approval in hand you agree what you are going to deliver. Where the awarding organisation already has a qualification that fits your course, you ask to offer that one. Where it has nothing suitable, you ask it to build a new qualification from your material. It writes the specification with you, takes ownership of it and submits it to Ofqual's Register, because under Ofqual's conditions only the awarding organisation can do that.

From then on the costs follow your learner numbers. Each learner is registered for a fee, and before certificates are issued the awarding organisation samples your assessment decisions through external quality assurance.

What does centre approval cost with each awarding organisation?

Sources: each awarding organisation's published fee list, linked below. Checked 5 October 2026. Several lists state that fees exclude VAT. Fees change each academic year, so confirm with the awarding organisation before you budget.

Read the annual column before the approval column. A low entry fee can sit beside a yearly charge that costs more over three years than a high one-off fee would. TQUK is the clearest case of a fee that depends on how busy you are. Its annual fee is 3,000 pounds minus whatever the centre spent with it in the period, so a centre that registers enough learners pays nothing extra and a quiet one pays for the shortfall. Qualifi works in a similar way, with an annual reapproval fee of 1,950 pounds that applies where a centre has not registered at least 25 learners. OTHM's 1,950 pounds, on the other hand, covers five years.

A provider expecting fifteen learners in its first year would miss Qualifi's floor and trigger that fee. Check your own numbers against each list before you compare headline prices.

What does a bespoke regulated qualification cost?

If no existing qualification fits, you pay the awarding organisation to develop one. Only two of the lists we read give a price. Open Awards charges by size: 1,000 pounds for an Award, 1,500 pounds for a Certificate and 2,000 pounds for a Diploma, with single units at 185 pounds each. TQUK says additional qualifications can be developed and regulated from 5,000 pounds. For NCFE, AIM and Gatehouse Awards you have to ask for a quote. Gatehouse's list explains that it works the price out from the sector, level, size and type of qualification.

Ask about ownership early. A regulated qualification is submitted to the Register by the awarding organisation and stays in its name, while your centre gets approval to deliver it. Get one point written into the development agreement before any money changes hands: what happens to the qualification if you and the awarding organisation part company.

Do awarding organisation fees change with the RQF level?

Centre approval is a flat fee on every list we read. What moves with the level is the charge for each learner, and the table below shows it. OTHM's registration fee for a Level 3 Award is 100 pounds, and for a Level 7 Diploma it is 300 pounds. Others price by size instead. Open Awards bills 6.25 pounds per credit for each learner, with a minimum of 21 pounds per course. A bigger qualification at a higher level costs more per head with all of them, but they get there in different ways, so you need your own credit value and cohort size in front of you to compare them fairly.

Sources: published fee lists for 2026 to 2027 (Qualifi 2025 to 2026), linked below. Checked 5 October 2026.

Regulated, endorsed or assured: what is the difference and what does it cost?

Every awarding organisation on our list also sells something cheaper than a regulated qualification. The names vary: endorsed course, quality mark, assured programme. In each case the awarding organisation reviews your own course and lets you issue a certificate carrying its name. TQUK charges 500 to 700 pounds to approve an endorsed course. Gatehouse charges 625 pounds per course, and Qualifi's initial assessment fee is 795 pounds.

It is a real product, and for many short courses it is the right one. But it is not a regulated qualification, it is not on the RQF and it has no level. TQUK tells its endorsed centres not to use terms like regulated or nationally recognised, and ILM does not allow the words Award, Certificate or Diploma in the title of an assured programme. Behind both rules is Ofqual's Condition B5, which bars an awarding organisation from letting anyone believe an unregulated course is a regulated qualification. If your buyer has asked for a Level 3, an endorsed course will not meet the request. Our guide to accredited, certified and approved covers the wording in more detail.

Apollo Accreditation is a consultancy. It is not a regulator or an awarding organisation and does not award qualifications. Fees and rules change, so confirm them with the body named before you act on them.