On Thursday 2 October the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Jenny Gilruth, confirmed that Qualifications Scotland will start work on 1 December 2025. This will be followed by a phased period of transition and the new awarding body will become fully operational on 1 February 2026.
What this means
Qualifications Scotland becomes a legal entity on 1 December 2025, which means the new organisation’s Board can be appointed and new governance arrangements set out in the Education (Scotland) Act 2025 can be created. This includes setting up the:
- Strategic Advisory Council
- Learner and Practitioner Interest Committees
- Accreditation Committee
In addition, work will begin on developing the learner and practitioner charters.
On 1 February 2026, Qualifications Scotland will become fully operational and start exercising its statutory awarding and accreditation functions. At this point the new brand will be launched and Qualifications Scotland certificates will start to be issued.
More information
All centres required to use Qualifications Scotland branding will receive brand guidelines as well as information on how to access systems in time for the new awarding body being fully operational on 1 February 2026. From this date, please use the Qualifications Scotland brand guidelines for any new and updated material produced.
There is no expectation on centres to update existing materials straight away – these can be updated when they are naturally due to be replaced.
Up until 1 February 2026, the SQA brand will continue to be used. This includes any mention of the awarding body on partner and stakeholder websites.
