Summer 2021 fees and entries update

This update was originally published on 22 January 2021. We have now updated our arrangements on invoicing and linked to FAQs on making entries for Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals.

We know these are challenging times for schools and colleges and to help you manage your budgets, we’ve now published our summer 2021 fees for GCSEs, AS and A Levels and other general qualifications, as well as for our Cambridge Nationals*. Our 2020/21 fees list for our vocational qualifications is available here.

We want to be transparent about our fees policy following the cancellation of exams this summer. Our published fees are based on our costs if exams were still going ahead as usual. When we have reviewed the final costs involved in giving students grades this summer, we will pass on any savings to you, as we did in 2019/20.

The joint DfE and Ofqual consultation on awarding grades this summer proposes exam boards support schools and colleges to submit grades based on teacher assessment with assessment materials, training and guidance, as well as a quality assurance process. While we don’t know what we’ll have to deliver yet, it’s likely to involve significant costs and it’ll take time to review the final costs we incur before we can confirm the savings we’ll pass on to you.

*The published fees for summer 2021 apply to AS and A Level, GCSE, Entry Level Certificate, FSMQ, Level 3 Certificate Core Maths, Extended Project and also Cambridge Nationals.

Passing back our savings

We are committed to passing back savings from this summer in the form of a rebate to schools and colleges again. (Please see our FAQs below for more information.) Last year, we passed back the savings we made following the cancellation of exams with a 23% rebate on our GCSE, AS and A Level and a 20% rebate on our Cambridge Nationals and Cambridge Technicals entry fees.

What our fees cover

Alongside our specifications, our fees include a considerable package of resources and support for schools and colleges.

During the pandemic, we have been continually adapting our support to meet the needs of schools and colleges, with extra online training events for teachers and exams officers, and free resources to support remote learning, as well as clear and regular communications. We will deliver the assessment materials, training and guidance and the extra quality checks that are determined by the consultation.

Entries

We encourage schools and colleges to carry on making entries so your students can receive results this summer for the qualifications they have studied.

The deadline for making summer 2021 entries for general qualifications and Cambridge Nationals is 21 February 2021. For support making Cambridge Nationals entries in summer 2021, please read our FAQ.

For Cambridge Technicals, please make sure you have made your qualification entries. For June 2021 test unit entries, the entry window is open from 2 to 28 March 2021. For support on making Cambridge Technicals entries in summer 2021, please read our FAQ. 

We look forward to working in partnership with schools and colleges on delivering grades for your students based on teacher assessment this summer. Please take a look at our FAQs on fees below.

If you have queries, please call our Customer Support Centre on 01223 553998 or email us at support@ocr.org.uk.

FAQs

Why are you publishing fees for exam entries when exams are cancelled?

Our published fees are designed to help you manage your budgets. It may also help in providing a figure for private candidates or for independent schools. Based on 2020, it takes a considerable time to review all the costs that will be incurred in the alternative arrangements and to calculate the savings we can pass on, although we will do this as quickly as we can. 

When will you invoice us for these entries?

To help school and colleges manage their budgets, we will delay our invoicing for exams in summer 2021 until we have had the results of the DfE and Ofqual consultation. This will give us and schools and colleges time to understand the outcomes of the consultation and create an approach that will avoid extra work for schools and colleges at a busy time.

Will you adjust the fees once the consultation outcome is known?

We may take the approach of adjusting our fees before we invoice schools and colleges if we have sufficient information on the costs we will incur. If we don’t have sufficient information on our costs at that stage, then we will refund schools and colleges (i.e. rebate route) as soon as we have this clarity.

We’re keen to respond and be as flexible as possible.

Our school/college is facing financial problems. What can we do?

We are keen to support schools and appreciate there may be circumstances where you will need to discuss alternative payment arrangements with us. In this event, you should contact OCR at creditcontrol@cambridgeassessment.org.uk or on 01223 558686 to discuss further.

Will you be updating the basedata to include fees?

We have updated our basedata to include the 2020/21 fees. This can be downloaded from the OCR website. Please make sure you have the latest version of the basedata. Downloading the basedata again will not affect any data already sent to OCR, and will not affect the issue of your results. If you need help with refreshing your basedata, Capita SIMS have put together a YouTube video to show you how.