Capita has delayed the marking of Year 6 Sats papers by a week due to “technical issues”, Tes has learned.
In an email to markers informing them of the delay sent last night, seen by Tes, the firm - contracted to manage the marking process for primary assessment for the last two years - apologised for the delay but said that the new schedule “could not be altered”.
It comes after last year’s Sats were plagued by a series of major problems around the marking and moderation process, which led to concerns about mark accuracy.
A school leaders’ union told Tes they were ”disappointed and concerned” that there were problems emerging with the test series again this year and it was “imperative” that lessons were learned.
Markers of the Year 6 assessments were told by Capita in last night’s email that marking would not begin until a week later than originally planned.
This year’s KS2 national assessments were sat by Year 6 pupils across the country last week, with Capita overseeing the marking process for the second year.
Marking was originally due to commence on Monday 15 May and end on Sunday 4 June, according to an earlier email sent to markers and seen by Tes.
However, Capita told markers last night that marking would not begin until 22 May and will now end on 12 June.
It comes after Year 6 Sats markers said they were left unable to access training materials and sessions for hours over the weekend.
One Sats marker, who wished to remain anonymous, told Tes that markers are “furious” at the delay and the fact that Capita had not explained why this had happened.
They said that markers schedule work and personal commitments for the job and “there is now going to be a huge overlap with GCSE marking”, which many markers have also signed up to complete.
Another individual told Tes that markers have said they will have forgotten the training for this year’s marking process by the time the work eventually starts.
Tiffnie Harris, primary and data policy specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said the union had spoken to the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), which is responsible for developing and delivering statutory assessments, and was aware of technical issues that had resulted in a delay to the marking process of KS2 tests.
But Ms Harris said the union had “been assured that this will not affect the timing of results, which will be issued as scheduled on 11 July”.
She added: “This is particularly important as this process has already been delayed by a week because of the additional bank holiday for the King’s coronation. We are disappointed and concerned that this is the second year in succession where there have been problems with the KS2 test series and it is imperative that lessons are learned.”
Last month, both the STA and Capita offered “sincere apologies” in a “lessons learned” report on the issues that led to problems school leaders faced in accessing pupil marks last year, and the STA said it was “confident” those issues would not be repeated this year.
Lack of communication or care
One marker told Tes that they had already arranged their weekends around the original dates given and their “biggest complaint is lack of communication or care”.
Markers were also informed by Capita last night that the deadline to complete the first set of qualifications for marking was now midnight on Thursday 18 May and midnight on Friday 19 May for the second.
Markers were also told that if they failed the first set of marking qualifications then they should get in touch with their supervisor to discuss this, as well as being informed that the amount of time they will have to complete their marking allocation and earning potential would not change.
A Capita spokesperson said: “We quickly identified and resolved a technical issue affecting some papers, which resulted in a delay to the start of marking. We do not anticipate a delay to the overall paper marking schedule or return of results.”
The Department for Education has been approached for comment.
