Exam chiefs warn over error fines

England's biggest exam board fears Government plans could open the floodgates to legal action from the thousands of pupils who are given incorrect results every year.

Ministers have drawn up proposals that would allow the new exams watchdog - Ofqual - to fine exam boards or recommend that they compensate candidates for errors.

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance condemned the proposal, warning that some "errors of judgment or process" were inevitable.

Boards could respond to compensation claims by charging schools higher exam fees, which already cost most secondaries more than books, according to the Times Educational Supplement.

The plans emerged after figures showed nearly 22,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland had the grades on their GCSE and A-level papers changed after they queried their results last year.

The Government's proposals were set out for consultation, which has now ended. The consultation document asked whether Ofqual should have the power to "intervene and/or impose a sanction - this could include the power to enforce financial or other penalties".

The plans give the new watchdog "the power to issue non-binding recommendations to awarding organisations to compensate candidates or their families, and to publish any instances where the recommendation is not followed".

AQA set out its concerns in a response to the Government consultation on Ofqual, which will begin operation on an interim basis next month.

The exam board said in its response: "These new powers, if adopted, would have far-reaching and, indeed, unintended consequences, not least the crippling burden on awarding organisations of, say, having to meet 20 claims of £50,000."