If Britain is to deliver a genuine framework for lifelong learning in the 21st century, a qualifications system must be developed to support this framework. The National Qualifications Framework may not be fit for the purpose of supporting lifelong learning. A policy on lifelong learning must explicitly connect with qualifications reform to have an impact on the structure of provision, accessibility to many learners, and long-term ability of the education and training system to combat social exclusion and support the modernization of the economy. To design a framework for lifelong qualifications, Britain must ensure it can accommodate new achievement sets and combinations of these sets without disturbing the basic design features of the framework. An alternative concept of"national standards" must be established that is linked more closely to the idea of lifelong learning to create the necessary basis for changes needed to create a qualifications system for the next millennium. Qualifications for lifelong learning must draw upon leading-edge industrial and commercial models if they are to become "future proof." A connection exists between the concepts of standardization and customization and the different phases of lifelong learning. Four suggested protocols for a framework of credit-based qualifications to support lifelong learning are unit, network, credit, and qualification. (Contains 60 references.) (YLB)