The Farriers Registration Council (FRC) recently withdrew their approval for the Worshipful Company of Farriers (WCF) to run the Farriery Examination End Point Assessment (EPA) for the Level 3 Farrier (STO172), Apprenticeship Standard, which every apprentice takes to become a registered farrier. As stated on the Council's notice published on 5th October 2023, the regulator's withdrawal of approval also applies to the Associateship of the Worshipful Company of Farriers (AWCF) qualification for the purpose of joining the list of Approved Training Farriers (ATFs).

The WCF views this very seriously and has already taken steps to address the FRC concerns.

The latest set of exams have been delayed until early January 2024. These will be run by VetSkills Ltd with the full support of the WCF who have supplied both qualified WCF examiners and questions from our Examinations Board.
We wish all the candidates well.

The WCF intend to grant the post-nominal DipWCF to successful candidates who will undertake their EPA exams delivered by VetSkill in January 2024.

Once the WCF has addressed all the FRC concerns, the Worshipful Company of Farriers will be reapplying for approval in the first part of 2024. We wish to thank all registered farriers in the UK for their overwhelming support in our quest to continue running farriery examinations in the UK.

The Worshipful Company of Farriers examinations are the most respected in the world. Due to the high esteem in which our exams are held, teams of examiners are regularly sent to countries including the USA, Australia, Denmark, Sweden, South Africa and Northern Ireland.

Founded in 1356 the WCF has always been an animal welfare organisation, when we were first tasked to raise the standards of farriery within the City of London. Today the Farriers (Registration) Act still recognizes the role which the WCF has in maintaining farriery standards in the UK.

18th December 2023