Quantum Cryptography, Cybersecurity

NCSC launches pilot to certify quantum-safe cyber advisors

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October 13, 2026 by Ivy Delaney

The National Cyber Security Centre is now piloting an assurance scheme specifically for consultancies undertaking cryptographic discovery exercises, a key first step for organizations preparing for post-quantum threats. Assured Cyber Security Consultancy is part of the pilot, which assures consultancies that meet the scheme Standard for post-quantum cryptography.

The consultancies will support the NCSC in its work with government and critical industry sectors, to enable all organizations to identify skilled partners in PQC, and to encourage the growth of PQC expertise within the UK. This initiative follows the NCSC’s publication of “Timelines for migration to post-quantum cryptography” guidance, signaling the urgency of this technological shift.

ACSC-PQC Pilot Standards and Working Practices

The pilot specifically focuses on firms capable of delivering an initial step for any entity preparing for the quantum era. These exercises pinpoint which systems and data are most vulnerable and require urgent upgrades to withstand future decryption threats. The NCSC has developed a specific standard and accompanying working practices document for the pilot, outlining obligations for participating consultancies and how they will collaborate. This standard, alongside a buyer’s guide, is available for download and provides detailed guidance on the pilot offering.

The program’s structure reflects the NCSC’s recognition that organizations require skilled partners to navigate the complexities of post-quantum migration, and to support the growth of specialized expertise within the United Kingdom. The pilot is expected to run until March 31, 2027, after which the criteria and lessons learned will be reviewed to inform the full ACSC-PQC scheme.

Beyond identifying vulnerable systems, assured consultancies will also support organizations in cryptographic discovery exercises, to identify priority services for migration, and to support the development of an initial migration plan. Some firms will be further vetted to offer direct advice on the use of PQC, aligning with the NCSC’s existing technical recommendations. Eligibility for offering this advice tier requires demonstrating competence in both discovery and migration planning, creating a tiered system of assurance.

The NCSC states, “All organisations will need to plan their migration to post-quantum cryptography (PQC) over the coming years,” emphasizing the proactive need for preparation. The NCSC previously published guidance outlining timelines for this migration, recognizing that this is an ongoing process demanding immediate attention, not a distant threat.

The agency is actively working to lower barriers to entry for companies seeking to join the assurance scheme, soliciting feedback through a dedicated form to ensure fairness and accessibility. Government and public sector buyers can access these assured consultancies through the Government Commercial Agency’s Dynamic Purchasing System, streamlining the procurement process for vital cybersecurity services. The pilot program is currently closed to new expressions of interest due to high demand. But the NCSC intends to publish further details about the future of the offering following the pilot’s conclusion.

Companies successfully meeting the scheme standard are not automatically guaranteed full membership to the ACSC-PQC scheme, indicating that the pilot is a rigorous evaluation period. It’s about building a robust ecosystem of trusted advisors capable of guiding organizations through a complex and evolving threat landscape.

Other customers outside of the government sector are encouraged to contact their chosen Assured Cyber Security Consultancy directly, supporting a direct relationship between those seeking expertise and those providing it. The NCSC’s commitment to establishing clear standards and working practices aims to provide organizations with confidence in the competence and reliability of the cybersecurity advice they receive, as they prepare for a future where current encryption methods may no longer be secure.

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Ivy Delaney

Ivy Delaney has been working with neural networks and machine learning since the mid-nineties, back when a couple of hidden layers and a long afternoon of training counted as ambitious. She has watched the field go from academic curiosity to the thing quietly running underneath everything, and she brings that long view to quantum computing. For Quantum Zeitgeist she covers the ground where the two fields meet. That means quantum machine learning and the variational algorithms it leans on, and it also means the less glamorous but more interesting story of classical machine learning already doing real work inside quantum machines, decoding error-correcting codes, calibrating noisy hardware and learning the error models that simulators depend on. She writes about the hardware those algorithms have to run on too, and about the post-quantum cryptography scramble that the same hardware has set off. Her stories typically start with the paper, whether that is peer-reviewed work, conference proceedings or an arXiv preprint, with the source linked so you can hold a claim up against the research it came from. She is unimpressed by benchmarks that will not say what they beat, and by demonstrations that only work in the press release.

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