Government contractor ‘LOSES’ SATs papers: Thousands of primary school children face getting wrong results as headteachers accuse Capita of losing and mismarking exam papers

• Capita delivered the SATs for Department for Education for first time this year 
• Company has been accused of losing and mismarking 20% of exam papers  
• NAHT union has voiced concerns with government and called for investigation

Thousands of primary school children are facing getting incorrect SAT results after a government contractor has been accused of losing and mismarking exam papers. 

Capita, a business outsourcing company, delivered the Sats for the Department for Education for the first time this year.

But the company has been accused of losing and mismarking countless exam papers, leaving children unable to access their results.

A poll by Teacher Tapp last week suggested that 20 per cent of primary teachers had Key Stage 2 Sats papers with missing marks.

The NAHT school leaders’ union, which represents the majority of primary schools in England, said it is concerned about the management of end-of-primary SATs after schools have this year complained of missing marks or incorrectly allocated results for some pupils. 

The union said it has voiced its fears with the Department for Education and the Standards and Testing Agency – but said it has been given no clear answers about the scale of the problem.

Capita, a business outsourcing company, delivered the Sats for the Department for Education for the first time this year. But the company has been accused of losing and mismarking countless exam papers, leaving children unable to access their results. Stock picture 

And frustrated teachers and parents have taken to Twitter to voice their anger over the matter. 

Wendy Clarke wrote: ‘My daughter took her SATs this year and we have just been told she will not get any SAT results because her papers have been lost by the company marking them!!

‘In total four out of 20 kids in the school will not get a result. Has this happened to you?? We are very angry!!’

While Eileen Dover said: ‘Please sort out the absolute shambles at STA regarding KS2 SATs results. Many pupils’ scripts have been recorded as ‘missing’ giving them no results. 

‘These papers have been lost by your department.’ 

While Fiona Bailey wrote: ‘Got a call from the head to say my son’s results were missing/marked wrong… so the SATs will be guessed results, what a shambles.’ 

And frustrated teachers and parents have taken to Twitter to voice their anger over the matter

NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said: ‘As things stand, the Government is unable to tell us just how many children have been given incorrect marks for their Sats this year and how many papers have gone missing.

‘This is a deeply worrying position to be in. If the Government is unable to identify the scale of the problem, how can leaders have confidence that they will be able to fix it?’

NAHT has been contacted by schools that have not only been told that some completed Sats papers have gone missing, meaning that their pupils will not be given a result, but also by schools where marks have been assigned to the wrong pupils.

Mr Whiteman said: ‘It is unacceptable for the answer to the Government’s failed Sats delivery to be for children not to be given any marks at all for their work. Parents will understandably be outraged by that.

‘And for schools to then find, on closer investigation, that some of the marks they have been given are incorrect hints at complete chaos. It should not be up to schools to have to spend hours double-checking everything they’ve been told.

‘The delivery of these tests has been beset with problems from start to finish. We need an immediate investigation into what has gone wrong and the Government must take urgent action to fix it.’

Mr Whiteman added: ‘If schools are obliged to spend the time implementing these tests, the least parents and children should be able to expect is a system that operates well.

NAHT has been contacted by schools that have not only been told that some completed Sats papers have gone missing, meaning that their pupils will not be given a result, but also by schools where marks have been assigned to the wrong pupils. Stock picture 

‘For a Government that prides itself on efficient delivery, this is the latest in a long line of failures and mismanagements when it comes to exams and assessments and it simply isn’t good enough.

‘School staff all play their part, take it seriously and do exactly what is expected – and the penalties for mistakes are severe. We should be able to expect the same standards from Government.

‘This needs to be put right urgently and the Government needs to listen to school leaders on what has gone wrong so that it does not happen again.’

A spokesman for Capita told the Times: ‘Over the testing period we collected, scanned and marked 3.8 million test scripts for over 16,000 schools on behalf of the Standards and Testing Agency. 

‘A small number of schools have scripts missing. The scripts could be missing for a range of reasons, including that scripts were returned after the marking period, lost during processing, or because a pupil may not have sat a test. 

‘We understand that this is frustrating for the affected schools and we apologise to them for any errors we have made. We are working with them to understand the reasons why a pupil may be showing as missing and any appropriate next steps to resolve the situation.’

MailOnline has contacted Capita for comment.  

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