Cambridge English has been fined £875,000 by the UK regulator Ofqual after widespread marking errors in international English language tests led to incorrect results being issued to more
than 60,000 candidates worldwide.
The failures, which affected the computer-based listening and reading sections of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), occurred between August 2023 and September 2025. The tests are used globally for university admissions, employment, and immigration purposes.
According to Ofqual, automated scoring errors meant that 93,865 test responses were incorrectly marked out of approximately 7.7 million tests taken during the period. While in many cases the errors did not affect final outcomes, 62,794 candidates received incorrect component scores that were later revised.
Of those affected, 21,717 candidates saw changes to their overall results. The majority received improved scores after correction, while 1,115 candidates had their results reduced due to initial over-marking. Adjustments were generally limited to 0.5 on the IELTS nine-band scale, with only two cases increasing by a full band.
A subset of 1,108 affected candidates had taken the Secure English Language Test (SELT) version of IELTS, which is required by UK Visas and Immigration for visa applications and carries stricter security standards.
The issue was not detected until September 2025, when Cambridge English identified the problem during an update to its error-monitoring systems and alerted Ofqual.
Amanda Swann, executive director for delivery at Ofqual, said candidates had taken the tests expecting accurate results that often determine major life decisions. She said systemic failures over an extended period had undermined confidence in the system.
She added that the penalty reflected the seriousness of the breach and Ofqual’s commitment to protecting public confidence in regulated qualifications.
In its enforcement decision, Ofqual noted mitigating factors, including Cambridge English’s cooperation, its acceptance of the breach, and corrective actions taken. These included more than £6 million spent on remediation, compensation, the creation of a 24/7 support hub, and new measures designed to prevent a repeat of the failure. Photo by Brett, Wikimedia commons.
