diff --git a/ethosu/regor/compiler/scheduler_packing.cpp b/ethosu/regor/compiler/scheduler_packing.cpp
index a8e19b0e5b76ffc8bbd1ee735f6422d694255353..9d0e651cc6e3baf7da28e26c4bc82ef1ecaa384d 100644
--- a/ethosu/regor/compiler/scheduler_packing.cpp
+++ b/ethosu/regor/compiler/scheduler_packing.cpp
@@ -295,14 +295,17 @@ void SchedulerPacking::PrePackOperations()
         ArchRequirements oReq{};
         Flags<QueryResult> result = OperatorQuery(_arch, schedOp.get(), &oReq);
         assert(result.Any(QueryResult::Constrained) == false && "Constrained result from complete OperatorQuery");
-        // Determine if each operation can run on NPU
-        if ( result.Any(QueryResult::Native) )
+        if ( schedOp->Type() == OpType::Passthrough )
+        {
+            schedOp->SetNpuOp(false);
+        }
+        else if ( result.Any(QueryResult::Native) )
         {
             // TODO MLBEDSW-10643: This should be a direct-check against QueryResult::Native
-            // HasRequirements at this point should result in CPU-fallback
+            // HasRequirements at this point should result in failure
             if ( result.Any(QueryResult::HasRequirements) && oReq.req.Any(ArchRequirement::Decompose) )
             {
-                schedOp->SetNpuOp(false);
+                throw std::runtime_error("Non-passthrough operation could not run on NPU.");
             }
             else
             {
@@ -311,7 +314,7 @@ void SchedulerPacking::PrePackOperations()
         }
         else
         {
-            schedOp->SetNpuOp(false);
+            throw std::runtime_error("Non-passthrough operation could not run on NPU.");
         }
 
         // Examine elementwise and set a primary path for cascading.
diff --git a/ethosu/regor/test/test_scheduler_packing.cpp b/ethosu/regor/test/test_scheduler_packing.cpp
index 10656127a4bd7bbb6188631dd2a34cefb446c52c..3bf954c5283871ecb9375cf3b0ea9dcf4a8b8507 100644
--- a/ethosu/regor/test/test_scheduler_packing.cpp
+++ b/ethosu/regor/test/test_scheduler_packing.cpp
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright 2024 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates <open-source-office@arm.com>
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright 2024-2025 Arm Limited and/or its affiliates <open-source-office@arm.com>
 //
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
 //
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ TEST_CASE("test_scheduler_packing")
         // Validate that attr_axis still represents the reduced axis.
         std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Operation>> ops;
         auto ifm = CreateTensor("IFM", Shape(10, 10), DataType::Int8);
-        auto ofm = CreateTensor("OFM", Shape(1, 10), DataType::Int8);
+        auto ofm = CreateTensor("OFM", Shape(1, 10), DataType::Int32);
         auto op = CreateOperation(OpType::ArgMax, TensorUsage::IFM, ifm, TensorUsage::OFM, ofm);
         auto attr = op->Attribute<axis_attr_t>();
         attr->axis = 0;
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ TEST_CASE("test_scheduler_packing")
         // Validate that attr_axis still represent the reduced axes.
         std::vector<std::shared_ptr<Operation>> ops;
         auto ifm = CreateTensor("IFM", Shape(10, 10, 10), DataType::Int8);
-        auto ofm = CreateTensor("OFM", Shape(10, 2, 10), DataType::Int8);
+        auto ofm = CreateTensor("OFM", Shape(10, 2, 10), DataType::Int32);
 
         // first op
         //  reads  0,0,0 - shape 10,5,10