The exams watchdog has handed out its first formal “rebuke” to an exam board for “serious failures”.
Ofqual has found “systemic failures” in WJEC’s handling of four qualifications across GCSE, A level and AS level, involving its Eduqas brand, over a six-year period.
The regulator’s reasons for issuing the rebuke include “the scale and duration of the failings” across three subjects, as well as a “failure of internal controls” that indicated “weaknesses in governance, staff competence and systems of planning and internal control”.
However, Ofqual noted that there was no evidence of adverse effects on students and that WJEC had “taken urgent steps to improve its processes and reduce the risk of recurrence”.
It is the first rebuke Ofqual has handed down to an exam board after this action was introduced as an enforcement tool in October 2025.
New Ofqual enforcement tool
According to the watchdog, the chief regulator’s rebuke is used “for cases which are considered so serious that a public outcome is required, but where the circumstances fall short of meriting a fine”.
Ofqual chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham today described its use as a “commitment to taking action to protect students and uphold public confidence in qualifications”.
He said: “The circumstances of this case include that there was no evidence to indicate any actual adverse effects on students.
“However, these failings by WJEC represent serious breaches of Ofqual’s conditions across multiple subjects and years.”
‘Potential to undermine public confidence’
Sir Ian added: “The failures had the potential to prejudice students and undermine public confidence in the validity of regulated qualifications.”
The failures involved the following qualifications offered by WJEC’s Eduqas brand in England, Wales and Northern Ireland:
GCSE drama and GCE (A-level and AS-level) drama and theatre – live performance statements
GCE (A-level and AS-level) drama and theatre - text suitability forms
GCSE geography - fieldwork statements
GCSE computer science - practical programming statements
Ofqual said today: “WJEC admitted failing to collect and monitor centre declaration forms for the four qualifications – in breach of its conditions of recognition.
“The forms are required as statements to demonstrate centres have complied with subject content requirements. WJEC said this was an oversight – it had failed to make relevant staff aware of the requirements related to declaration forms.”
‘Unaware of the requirements’
In all four cases, Ofqual said the “root cause” of the failures was WJEC’s subject team being “unaware of the requirements that were introduced in January 2019”.
Ofqual did not issue a fine to the exam board because it considered mitigating factors, including WJEC’s acceptance of the facts and agreement to the rebuke.
Ofqual said WJEC had admitted its failures and had been “fully cooperative”.
This is the latest example of disciplinary action being taken by the watchdog. Last week it emerged that exam board Cambridge OCR had been fined £270,000 for mistakes on its 2025 AS- and A-level physics qualifications, which led to incorrect grades for students.
In July 2025, Tes reported that Ofqual was to issue WJEC with fines totalling £350,000 for two separate breaches of exam rules, including giving GCSE students the wrong grades.
A spokesperson for WJEC said: “We regret the instances of non-compliance relating to centre declaration forms between 2019 and 2025. These affected a small number of subjects, and we are confident that there is no evidence to indicate any actual adverse effects on learners. However, we take full responsibility and acknowledge that we did not meet the high standards expected of us.
“We have cooperated fully with Ofqual throughout this process and have undertaken a comprehensive review of our procedures. We have implemented strengthened measures to ensure this does not happen again, and we want to reassure learners and centres of our ongoing commitment to maintaining the highest standards.”
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