Schools and colleges are to receive £200 for every entry from private GCSE and A-level candidates they deal with this summer, the government has announced.

The grant will be given to schools to “meet costs associated with the additional demands of assessment for private candidates this year”.

“This is to avoid those extra costs being passed on to candidates,” the Department for Education said today.

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It added that it “encourages all exam centres to offer to support private candidates to access a grade in this exceptional year”.

The grant will be available per entry for GCSE, AS, A level, and for VTQs and other general qualifications.

For GCSE, AS- and A-level candidates, the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) will publish a list of schools planning to accept the grant by the end of March for private candidates to use.

Schools will be asked to give details of the subjects and specifications they cover, how private candidates should contact them to register, the main points of their assessment approach, whether they can work with candidates remotely, and what forms of assessment they plan to use.

Registration deadline: time for assessment

Schools and colleges do not need to be on the JCQ list to be awarded a grant, for example where they have a pre-existing historic relationship with a small number of private candidates.

But the department has said it wants to encourage all private candidates to use the list to find a school where they do not already have one.

“Private candidates are encouraged to register with a centre before 26 April to avoid late entry fees and to allow enough time for assessment,” the department said. 

In Ofqual and the DfE’s consultation on 2021 grading, it said: “We recognise that, given the pressures on schools and colleges created by the pandemic, and the potential public health considerations, schools and colleges might be reluctant to make entries for and then assess private candidates this year.”

Ofqual acting chief regulator Simon Lebus said respondents had raised concerns about private candidates “quite often”.

Last year, many private candidates did not receive grades when the government U-turned from awarding grades through an algorithm to grades awarded by teacher assessment.

Following the U-turn, private candidates, apart from a small number for whom a school was found, did not receive centre-assessment grades in 2020, as no school held any evidence on them - teachers were not able to make any judgement on how they could have performed.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The additional complexity and workload presented by private candidates entering exams this summer could be considerable for some schools and colleges, and we are grateful that this has been reflected in a financial figure that we believe is adequate and realistic.

“Funding is a constant battle for schools and colleges, and it is therefore pleasing to note the DfE appears probably to have got its sums right on this.”