The problem

Once users of the ‘Check an early years qualification’ service have selected a qualification based on the criteria they’ve entered and answered any additional requirement questions linked to that qualification, they navigate to the qualification result page.

This page contains a lot of information, including:

  • the qualification details provided by users
  • the result for the qualification being checked
  • the staff:child ratios that the qualification holder can be counted in
  • the user’s responsibilities as an early years provider

Depending on when the qualification was awarded, the qualification holder may need to meet other requirements to be counted in staff:child ratios at:

  • level 2: they need to hold a Paediatric First Aid certificate if the qualification was awarded on or after 29 June 2016
  • level 3: they need to hold a Level 2 English qualification if the qualification was awarded on or after 1 September 2014, and a Paediatric First Aid certificate if the qualification was awarded on or after 29 June 2016

Originally, we only asked for the start date of the qualification. The rule for showing other requirements depends on the award date, but because we didn’t collect it, we couldn’t know for sure if they applied. The only safe assumption was to show them for qualifications started on or after September 2014, as these couldn’t have been awarded before that date. For qualifications started earlier, we didn’t display the requirements—even though they might still apply—leading to incomplete or misleading results.

Once we identified this issue, we changed the page to always display all requirements, leaving managers to decide whether they applied. This reduced the risk of missing important information but introduced many “if” statements, making the results feel ambiguous and less reliable.

Initial content shown under level 3

Previous design: The information under level 3 didn't tell users whether the qualification holder actually needed to meet these other requirements.

Users need to trust that they have done the right thing and feel confident in the result without needing to research further. The “ifs” approach didn’t give them that confidence.

The solution

We made the decision to start asking for the award date. This allows us to provide a more accurate outcome, removing uncertainty and giving users clearer information they can rely on.

Now, using the award date, we can accurately show these requirements only when they truly apply:

  • Level 2 English: applies from 1 September 2014.
  • Paediatric First Aid: applies from 29 June 2016.

For example, if the qualification was awarded on or after September 2014, users now see:

Iterated content shown under level 3

We couldn’t remove all ambiguity, however. For Paediatric First Aid, if a qualification was awarded in June 2016, we can’t confirm whether the requirement applies because eligibility depends on whether it was awarded before or on or after 30 June 2016. We only capture the month and year to stay consistent with how we ask for the start date. Research has shown that users already find it challenging to recall and provide exact start dates, and asking for the exact award day would have made this task even more difficult.

This means that:

  • If a qualification was awarded in June 2016, users see a message indicating that the requirement may apply

Iterated content shown under level 2 when the qualification was awarded in June 2016

  • If it was awarded from July 2016 onwards, users see a message indicating that the requirement applies:

Iterated content shown under level 2 when the qualification was awarded from July 2016 onwards

Outcome

Since introducing these changes, we’ve tested the service with users in several rounds of research. Findings show that the updated page gives users clearer information about whether other requirements apply, reducing the risk of missing important details.

Some ambiguity remains for the Paediatric First Aid requirement because we do not capture the exact award date, only the month and year. While users usually have the exact date on the certificate itself, the result page still shows “if” wording instead of “as” for qualifications awarded in June 2016. This can make the page feel less definitive as evidence, and means it will need to be used alongside the certificate for clarity.

Next steps

We’ll continue monitoring whether the use of “if” for the Paediatric First Aid requirement causes confusion for users.

We’ll also keep reviewing and improving the wording on the qualification result page to make it as clear and simple as possible.

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