Potential impact of industrial action on external assessments

As we’re sure you’re aware, The National Education Union (NEU) has announced that industrial action will take place by its members on the dates listed below. We’d like to update you on arrangements for affected external assessments during this period and how we can support you and your learners. 

• 1 February (all regions) 
• 14 February (Wales only) 
• 28 February (Northern England) 
• 1 March (Midlands and East) 
• 2 March (London, South East and South West) 
• 15 March (all regions) 
• 16 March (all regions) 

Impacted window based and set date and time external assessments 

Given the circumstances, dates and nature of the assessments in question, all assessments will currently go ahead as scheduled. These assessments are shown in the table below: 

Rearranging assessments within a window 

All windowed assessments should go ahead as planned, making any necessary rearrangements internally in advance. Please refer to the Regulations for the Conduct of External Assessments for details on invigilation requirements. Where rearrangement internally is not possible and all possibilities have been exhausted, an assessment variation request (AVR) can be submitted. 

Set date, set time assessments 

There are two set date and time assessments on affected dates (15 March and 16 March 2023). Again, these will currently go ahead as planned. In the event of a school closure, an assessment variation request (AVR) can be submitted, altering the time of the assessment. We understand that these are extenuating circumstances so where you need to submit an AVR due to industrial action, we’ll waive the usual requirement of 20 days’ notice and will accept requests up to the date of the assessment. We’d also like to remind you that the start time of these assessments can be varied by up to 30 minutes without submitting an AVR, for maximum flexibility. 

We’ll contact centres with bookings on these set date and time assessments within the next week by email and will provide any further updates as necessary depending on our findings. 

On demand assessments 

For assessments delivered on demand, we already offer existing flexibilities to vary the start time of the assessment by up to 24 hours before or after the agreed date. Where necessary, you can also cancel a booking and rebook at a more suitable time. 

Further updates 

We’ll continue to monitor the situation and any associated disruption. We’re working with our regulators and other awarding organisations to ensure learner impact is kept to a minimum. We’ll update you if any further changes affect you or your learners. If you have any queries, please contact [email protected].