Cambridge English has been fined £875,000 by the United Kingdom’s Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) after computer-marking errors led to incorrect results being issued to tens of thousands of IELTS candidates worldwide.

According to Ofqual, the errors affected candidates who sat the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examinations between August 2023 and September 2025, including those who took the test for visa applications, immigration purposes and university admissions.

The regulator, according to a statement on the UK Government website, said the test’s listening and reading components, completed on-screen by candidates, were marked automatically using a computer system programmed with predefined answers supplied by human subject experts.

However, failures within the automated marking process went undetected until September 2025, when Cambridge English discovered the issue during an update to its error-monitoring system and subsequently informed Ofqual.

The auto-marking fault resulted in 93,865 responses being marked incorrectly out of the 7.7 million IELTS tests taken during the period under review.

Ofqual said that in approximately one-third of the cases involving incorrect marks, candidates’ component scores and overall results remained unaffected.

But the regulator disclosed that 62,794 candidates received incorrect results for their listening and reading components, which were later corrected.

Of that number, 21,717 candidates had their overall IELTS scores revised after the errors were identified.

The majority of those affected received improved overall results following the corrections. However, 1,115 candidates were found to have initially received inflated scores, leading to downward revisions.

According to Ofqual, all changes to candidates’ overall scores were by 0.5 points on the IELTS grading scale of zero to nine, except for two cases where candidates’ scores increased by one full point.

The regulator also revealed that 1,108 of the affected candidates had taken the Secure English Language Test (SELT) version of IELTS. SELT is the official English language examination required by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and is subject to additional security procedures.

Commenting on the development, Ofqual’s Executive Director for Delivery, Amanda Swann, said the failures had serious consequences for candidates who relied on the results to make important life decisions.

“Tens of thousands of people took these tests with the expectation of accurate results which influence important decisions.

“Those who took these tests, as well as those who used them, were let down by systemic failures over a long period and our significant fine reflects this.

“We will always step in to protect the integrity of tests and maintain public confidence in regulated qualifications.”

Ofqual said its enforcement panel considered several mitigating factors before determining the penalty.

The regulator noted that Cambridge English accepted responsibility for the breaches, entered into a settlement agreement, agreed to implement measures aimed at preventing a recurrence and took steps to minimise the impact on candidates and public confidence.

Those measures included spending more than £6 million on correcting the errors, compensating affected candidates, establishing a dedicated 24-hour customer support hub and strengthening safeguards within its assessment systems.

The fine represents one of the most significant regulatory actions taken by Ofqual in recent years and highlights the importance of accuracy and accountability in high-stakes examinations relied upon by millions of candidates around the world. (Tribune News)

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