Guidance
How to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal
Information for schools, local authorities and multi-academy trusts (MATs) on how to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal).
Change of https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-access-the-national-curriculum-assessments-portal
Change description : 2025-10-13 09:30:00: Added clarification: Local authority users who also have or need school access will require 2 separate NCA Portal accounts and must use different email addresses to create and access them. Users who need access to multiple local authorities can however switch between them within one single local authority account, using the same email address. Account managers who set up local authority users will either need to select ‘Manage access’ or ‘Manage moderation team access’, depending on the required permissions. [Guidance and regulation]
Showing diff : 2025-09-22 08:01:19.179050199 +00:00..2025-10-13 08:32:40.884820271 +00:00
Information for schools, local authorities and multi-academy trusts (MATs) on how to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal).
The NCA Portal is a secure website that supports primary schools, local authorities and MATs with the administration of the:
phonics screening check
optional key stage 1 (KS1) tests
statutory key stage 2 (KS2) tests and teacher assessment
Schools can:
place test orders
download phonics screening check and optional KS1 test materials
register pupils for KS2 tests
apply for KS2 access arrangements
submit online attendance registers
submit headteacher’s declaration forms
download teacher assessment standardisation training materials
submit KS2 teacher assessment data
view KS2 test results and marked test scripts
Local authorities can:
download teacher assessment standardisation training materials
complete standardisation exercises
review standardisation exercise results and commentaries
approve monitoring and moderation agreements with academies and participating independent schools
generate reports on KS2 access arrangements to help inform monitoring visits
submit KS2 teacher assessment data on behalf of schools
record external moderation data for schools
view KS2 results
MATs can:
KS3 schools can:
If you don’t have an NCA Portal account yet, ask a user within your organisation who has ‘account manager’ permission to create one for you. For school users, this is usually the headteacher. You will need to provide your full name, email address and information about any user permissions you need.
MATs and KS3 schools will receive email invitations with access instructions to activate their accounts from Monday 1 June 2026.
If you need access as a school user as well as a local authority user, you need 2 separate accounts and they must have different email addresses.
If you need access to multiple local authorities, you can switch between them within one single local authority account.
To sign in to the NCA Portal:
Enter your username (this is your email address) and password.
Select the ‘Sign in’ button at the bottom of the page.
The NCA Portal uses multi-factor authentication (MFA), which is required only on your first sign in of each day. Once you select the ‘Sign in’ button, you will receive an email with a 6-digit verification code. To complete your sign in, please enter this on the system when prompted. Note that you can only use each code once.
The following video demonstrates how to access the NCA Portal, including additional information on how MFA works:
How to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal)
If you don’t have an NCA Portal account yet, and you have not received an invitation email to create one by Tuesday 23 September, please ask a user within your organisation who has ‘account manager’ permission to create a new user account for you. For school users, this is usually your headteacher.
To ensure you receive emails from the NCA Portal, please add the following email addresses to your safe senders list:
Please also check your junk mail folder for any missing emails from the NCA Portal.
You can change your password at any time by following the steps below:
Sign in to the NCA Portal.
Select the ‘Account’ tab at the top of the page.
Select ‘Change password’.
Enter your current password, then enter a new password and confirm.
Do not share your NCA Portal password with anyone.
On the landing page, after signing in, you will find the dashboard with all available activities, their due dates and status.
To access any activity on the dashboard, select the activity’s title. Each activity is accompanied by in-system guidance to help you understand what you need to do.
Use the tabs at the top of the landing page to navigate between the system’s functions. Your available functions and activities will be based on the user permissions of your account.
When moving around the NCA Portal, please do not use the ‘Back’ button on your internet browser. Instead, navigate the website using the links and menus within the NCA Portal.
The NCA Portal will time out after 30 minutes of inactivity. This includes staying on the same page for too long without submitting any information. If your session times out, you will have to sign in again to regain access. To avoid being timed out and potentially losing work in progress, make sure you have all relevant information available before starting your session.
There is a save function for longer activities, such as pupil registration, so that you can partially complete them and then submit them later. Shorter activities, such as test orders, must be completed in one session.
There are 3 different permission levels for school users:
| User | Permissions |
|---|---|
| School account manager | Allows the user to create or remove user accounts and amend user permissions for the school. We recommend that headteachers, or members of staff with delegated authority, have this level of permission. |
| School general user | The standard account that allows users to view all tasks, except for those involving access arrangements or creating and deleting user accounts. We recommend that account managers give this level of permission to all school users who require access to the NCA Portal. |
| School access arrangements | Gives users permission to make and view applications for access arrangements. These applications may contain sensitive information about pupils, so schools should consider carefully who needs to have this level of access. |
Schools can have up to 7 users in total, but are restricted to a maximum of 2 ‘School account manager’ users.
If ‘School account manager’ users need to view or complete additional tasks beyond managing user accounts, they will also need to add ‘School general user’ and ‘School access arrangements’ permissions to their account, as appropriate. Account managers can update their own permissions.
There are 7 different permission levels for local authority users:
| User | Primary focus | Permissions |
|---|---|---|
| Local authority account manager | User account creation and removal | Manage access |
| Local authority senior manager | Full oversight and management | Access to manage all activities assigned to local authorities |
| Local authority deputy manager | Delegated authority | Access to manage all activities assigned to local authorities |
| Local authority general user | Support and administration | Access to KS2 test results, manage teacher assessment, submit help desk requests and maladministration requests |
| Moderation manager | Lead moderation activities | Manage moderators and deputy moderation managers, access standardisation training materials, access and take standardisation exercises, add moderated schools, upload external moderation summaries |
| Deputy moderation manager | Supporting the moderation manager | Manage moderators, access standardisation training materials, access and take standardisation exercises, add moderated schools, upload external moderation summaries |
| Moderator | Participation in standardisation | Access standardisation training materials, take standardisation exercises |
If required, local authority users can have access to multiple local authorities and switch between them within the same account.
School and local authority users who have account manager permissions should ensure that their organisation’s users are kept up to date and only have access to the permission levels needed to carry out the functions of their role.
Account managers must carry out regular reviews to ensure that leavers are removed and permission levels are amended when staff join or move to a new role.
To create a new user, please follow the steps below:
Select the ‘Account’ tab.
Select ‘Manage access’. access’ or ‘Manage moderation team access’, depending on the required permissions.
Enter the user’s full name and email address, and select the relevant user type. type.*
Select ‘Create user’.
You will receive email confirmation, and the new user will receive an email with details of how to sign in.
*If you are setting up a user who needs access as a school user as well as a local authority user, these will be separate accounts and must use different email addresses.
If you are setting up a user who needs access to multiple local authorities, they can use the same email address to switch between their local authorities.
To delete users, please follow the steps below:
Select the ‘Account’ tab.
Select ‘Manage access’.
Navigate to the list of current users at the bottom of the page.
Select ‘Remove’ next to the user you want to delete.
Select ‘Delete user’.
You will receive email confirmation that the user has been removed.
You can view your school’s contact details by selecting ‘Account’ and ‘View organisation details’.
If your school’s postal address or Department for Education (DfE) number has changed, you will need to change this on Get Information about Schools (GIAS). Once you have done this, the NCA Portal will be automatically updated with the new information. This can take up to 2 weeks.
You can view your local authority’s users and contact details by selecting ‘Account’, then ‘Key contact details’ and ‘System contacts’. You can also add additional contact details within the ‘Additional contacts’ tab on this page.
Going forward, we will use these contact details on the NCA Portal for all tailored communications to local authorities. We will no longer use the ‘local authorities contact details survey’, which has now closed. To ensure the correct people within your local authority receive all the relevant communications with important information for moderation and monitoring, you should:
regularly review the user accounts on the NCA Portal
make sure that all registered users are up to date and have the correct permissions
remove accounts for any leavers
If you need more help with accessing or using the NCA Portal, please contact the national curriculum assessments helpline:
call 0300 303 3013 (Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5pm)
Added clarification: Local authority users who also have or need school access will require 2 separate NCA Portal accounts and must use different email addresses to create and access them. Users who need access to multiple local authorities can however switch between them within one single local authority account, using the same email address. Account managers who set up local authority users will either need to select ‘Manage access’ or ‘Manage moderation team access’, depending on the required permissions.
Added a video demonstrating how to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal).
Updated the email addresses that NCA Portal users should add to their safe senders list.
First published.
2026-03-18 15:45
Added information about 3 further permission levels that are now available for local authority users: Moderation manager, Deputy moderation manager, Moderator
2025-10-31 16:23
Provided additional guidance on how to request and set up 2 separate accounts for users of the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal) who require access as a school user and a local authority user. Also updated the structure of the overall guidance and added details to highlight important steps required to ensure users can receive emails, including multi-factor authentication (MFA) codes, from the NCA Portal.
2025-10-23 09:55
Previously, users who needed access to the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal) as a school user and local authority user had to set up 2 separate accounts with 2 different email addresses. This has now changed, so that school-based moderators in local authorities can use the same email address to access both accounts and receive notifications from the NCA Portal.
2025-10-13 09:30
Added clarification: Local authority users who also have or need school access will require 2 separate NCA Portal accounts and must use different email addresses to create and access them. Users who need access to multiple local authorities can however switch between them within one single local authority account, using the same email address. Account managers who set up local authority users will either need to select ‘Manage access’ or ‘Manage moderation team access’, depending on the required permissions.
2025-09-22 09:00
Added a video demonstrating how to access the National Curriculum Assessments Portal (NCA Portal).
2025-09-18 15:30
Updated the email addresses that NCA Portal users should add to their safe senders list.
2025-09-15 09:30
First published.