Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of applications for private candidates taking GCSEs.
The department does not routinely collect information relating to the cost to private candidates of sitting GCSE examinations at a school, college or other examination centre.
In 2021, in light of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, GCSE grades were determined by teachers via Teacher Assessed Grades. The department is therefore providing an exceptional grant to centres of £200 per private candidate entry to support centres with the particular additional requirements of assessing private candidates in 2021. This is to avoid the cost being passed on to candidates who have not been taught alongside a wider cohort, so that private candidates could access qualifications at a similar cost to a normal exam year.