Rail strikes – Managing disruption and late arrivals to exams
Given plans for rail strikes next week, here is a reminder of relevant guidance available, to support your contingency planning,
Managing disruption
Please see the Government joint contingency plan and the JCQ’s preparing for disruption to examinations document.
Starting times for examinations
The JCQ awarding bodies allow centres in the UK to start examinations up to 30 minutes earlier, or later than the published starting time for the session, without the need to complete any paperwork.
Prior permission from an awarding body is not required. JCQ also issued
guidance in April 2022 about flexibility in exam start times this summer: ‘if centres are not able to start an examination within 30 minutes of the published start time, the examination may start later provided that it is held on the timetabled date and candidates are supervised by a member of centre staff from no later than 30 minutes after the published start time until the examination starts (ICE paragraph 6.5).’
Candidates must always be allowed the full amount of time as specified for the examination in the awarding body’s published timetable.
Please see Section 6 (page 13) of the JCQ Instructions for Completing Examinations (ICE) for further information.
Candidates who arrive late/very late
Candidates who arrive within one hour of the scheduled start of the examination are allowed (at the discretion of the centre) to enter and sit the exam. If a late arriving student is allowed to sit the exam, they must be allowed the full duration of the examination.
If a candidate arrives later than one hour of the start of the exam, they are considered “very late”. They may still be allowed to sit the exam, and this needs to be administered correctly by the centre.
Please see Section 21.1-5 (page 42) of JCQ ICE for further information.
