Exam board AQA confirmed this morning that it will offer schools 26 per cent of their entry fees as a rebate, saying that it had saved £45 million this year.

The board said that, as a “not-for-profit” organisation, “we can now confirm that we’ve saved £45 million this summer, so we’ll be returning all of this to schools and colleges. This means we’ll be refunding 26 per cent of the entry fees you paid”.

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@AQA confirm that they “saved £45 million this summer, so we’ll be returning all of this to schools and colleges. This means we’ll be refunding 26% of the entry fees you paid.”

This does not seem enough for the work that Schools had to do & the lack of work the exam board did! pic.twitter.com/6a3Rs0r5VA

- Dr Philip Purvis (@CroydonHighDHA) July 16, 2021

WJEC Eduqas has offered a 42 per cent rebate, while Pearson Edexcel has only confirmed there will be a rebate on fees. OCR has said it hopes to announce a rebate this month.

GCSEs and A levels 2021: School leaders call for bigger exam fee rebate

But some teachers have said that the AQA rebate does not go far enough.

Philip Purvis, deputy head of Croydon High School in London, said that, given the additional tasks that schools had undertaken this year to produce teacher-assessed grades, the AQA rebate felt like a “slap in the face”.

Given that schools were left to:
☑️ interpret guidance
☑️ set mark and moderate exam papers
☑️Standardise and quality assure results
☑️ Play a significant role in the appeals process

The 26% fee rebate offered by @AQA feels like a slap in the face! #edutwitter #exams2021 https://t.co/tra9BQUGtT

- Dr Philip Purvis (@CroydonHighDHA) July 16, 2021

And Jonny Uttley, chief executive of The Education Alliance multi-academy trust in Yorkshire, said that the rebate was a “joke” and that the board was playing the “charity card” having amassed profits of £20 million in 2020.

Schools being offered 26% rebate from @AQA. This is a joke. Playing the “we are a charity card” but £20 million gross profit in 2020, £25 million in 2019, £83 million cash in the bank in annual accounts. @wjec_cbac rebating 42%. Why the difference? What are projected profits?

- Jonny Uttley ? (@JonnyUttley) July 16, 2021

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “It is completely unacceptable that the rebate on fees for exams which didn’t take place is so low.

“Schools and colleges have taken on the vast majority of the work in assessing their students following the government’s decision to cancel public exams.

“Staff have worked tirelessly in extremely difficult circumstances to ensure their students are given fair and accurate grades while the role of the exam boards has been confined largely to administration and quality assurance. This rebate should have reflected this division of labour but patently fails to do so.

“The majority of headteachers we surveyed in June wanted to see a rebate of 75 per cent or more and they will feel badly let down by this outcome. To add insult to injury, the government expects them to use this meagre rebate to cover the cost of exam fees for any students entering the autumn series, effectively recycling the money back to the exam boards.

“The cost of exam fees is considerable. Our survey found the average total bill this summer is £116,967 for schools with a sixth form, and £75,238 for schools without a sixth form. This is paid out of budgets that have been hammered by the impact of Covid costs, such as lost revenue from lettings, cover for absent staff and enhanced cleaning schedules. There has been little support from the government with these costs and a significant rebate on exam fees was therefore particularly important.

“Schools and colleges have been dumped on time and time again following the cancellation of public exams, and the inadequacy of this rebate simply rubs salt in the wound.”

Colin Hughes, AQA’s chief executive, said: “As a not-for-profit organisation, we’re not benefiting financially from this summer - and we’re refunding every penny we can in recognition of all the extra work that schools have had to put in.

“But it’s important to remember that we too have had to do new and extra work this year. So it’s really disappointing to see ASCL misrepresenting the amount of work exam boards have had to do and repeating the calls for a 75 per cent refund, which unfortunately are pure fantasy.

“ASCL know very well that a 75 per cent refund would bankrupt us and mean there wouldn’t be any exams next summer for the young people who are working so hard to prepare for them.”

An AQA spokesperson said: “We know how much extra work schools have had to do this year so, as a not-for-profit organisation, we’re refunding everything we possibly can - including everything we would have spent on marking.

“We completely understand that some schools believe they should get more back, but we’ve actually had more work to do than last year and so we sadly haven’t made anything like the kind of savings some people have suggested. The kind of refund that some have called for would result in financial losses so huge that we wouldn’t be able to survive as an organisation and run exams for students next summer and beyond.”

An OCR spokesperson said that it still intended to announce the rebate in July, adding: “The sheer hard work, professionalism and dedication schools and colleges have shown in deciding student grades over the last few months is amazing.

“As we’ve always said, we’ll pass back any savings to schools and colleges from the alternative arrangements in place this summer to deliver student results. Although we’re a not-for-profit organisation, we need to cover the costs involved in helping students to progress to their next phase and we’re investing substantial resources in IT systems, delivering assessment materials and guidance, in online training sessions, and in running quality assurance checks.

“We intend to confirm any savings we can pass on in the form of a rebate in July, and we will do this as soon as we can.”