Schools and colleges will be eligible for £75 for every priority A-level appeal they process, the Department for Education announced today.

Following the cancellation of public exams in January 2021, students had the right to appeal their teacher-assessed grade if they believed a mistake had been made.

Headteachers have previously called for teachers to be reimbursed for their work on priority appeals.

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If students wanted to appeal, schools will have carried out an initial process review in the first instance, and then if the student wanted to pursue the appeal further, they had to ask their school to submit this to the exam board on their behalf.

Today, the DfE said: “Exceptionally, for this year only, we are providing additional funding to centres for teachers to process priority appeals, including conducting the centre review and submitting the formal appeal to an awarding organisation where relevant.

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“Centres will be eligible for £75 for each priority appeal they process. The funding is available to state-funded centres and those entering private candidates.”

Priority appeals are used where students have missed out on a “firm” university offer and wish to appeal their A level of other level 3 results. 

As schools had to undertake a process review prior to submitting these appeals to boards, the £75 “reflects the work undertaken to complete these priority centre reviews and submit a formal appeal to the awarding organisation where relevant”.

“We are expecting schools and colleges to pass on the £75 payment to the teachers involved in processing any priority centre review and/or appeal,” the DfE said.

The claims process will be open throughout the autumn term.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “The provision of £75 for each priority appeal was something that we argued for in order to recognise the exceptional circumstances of this year’s appeals process.

“It was clear to us that priority appeals were likely to necessitate schools and colleges having to call on staff during the summer holiday period to help in the review process. This, of course, does not happen in normal times because the appeal is dealt with entirely by the exam board.

“We were conscious that teachers had already been asked to go the extra mile and a few more miles after that in carrying out teacher assessments in order for students to be awarded grades this year, and we felt that it was only fair for there to be some payment available for the priority appeals process.”

“We are pleased that the government has made this money available, and we thank teachers and leaders for all their hard work in managing grading and appeals this year.”