The JCQ Awarding Bodies through their respective Irregularities and Appeals Committees have for a number of years been aware of the issue of certificate forgeries. In terms of the number of certificates produced and subsequently distributed to students each year, the issue remains small. Nevertheless, we feel it is pertinent to highlight this issue to Further and Higher Education establishments, as well as to potential employers. Additionally, it is important to reassure such users of certificates of the proactive steps being taken by awarding bodies to counter the problem of forgery of examination results documentation.
Over recent years awarding bodies have been able to take advantage of new printing technologies. As a consequence, candidate statements of provisional results and examination certificates now contain a number of inbuilt security features. The collective aim of the awarding bodies has been to eradicate the falsification of examination results documentation and thus prevent persons from gaining an unfair advantage, whether in the field of further education or employment.
Where an educational establishment or prospective employer has a concern over the authenticity of an examination certificate which has been presented to them, clarification should always be sought from the awarding body that issued the certificate.
All awarding bodies are able to offer a verification service, whereupon the candidate’s examination results, as originally issued, can be confirmed.
A Certifying Statement of Results may be supplied to a third party such as a potential employer upon request, and is frequently requested by official bodies in preference to documents held by the candidate himself/herself. Individual awarding bodies should be contacted for details of the cost associated with this service.
