2024 maladministration report
Published 3 March 2025
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Introduction
The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) has a statutory duty to investigate any allegation concerning the accuracy of results, relating to the:
- reception baseline assessment (RBA)
- phonics screening check
- key stage 2 (KS2) national curriculum tests, including the multiplication tables check (MTC) and teacher assessment
We investigate any concerns, alongside local authorities, in accordance with the maladministration investigation procedures.
Maladministration refers to any act that could jeopardise the integrity, security or confidentiality of the national curriculum assessments. This could refer to a range of actions, including:
- changes made to a pupil’s test script by someone other than the pupil
- over-aiding of pupils by test administrators
- inflation or deflation of teacher assessment judgements
- pupils cheating
- incorrectly opened test papers
This report:
- details the numbers, sources and types of allegations of maladministration reported to STA throughout the academic year 2023 to 2024
- presents the numbers of amendments and annulments to results made in the academic year 2023 to 2024
- provides comparisons with the maladministration data in the academic year 2022 to 2023
Numbers of schools participating in assessments
In the academic year 2023 to 2024, there were:
- 16,442 primary schools eligible to administer the RBA
- 16,538 state-funded mainstream primary schools with year 1 phonics screening check results
- 16,353 primary schools that signed into the MTC service
- 16,393 state-funded mainstream primary schools with KS2 results
Establishments that make up primary schools with results are state schools, academies, free schools, independent schools that opt in, special schools and pupil referral units.
Changes to maladministration procedures
Assessments at the end of key stage 1 (KS1) became non-statutory from the academic year 2023 to 2024 onwards. STA no longer investigates or reports on any allegation concerning the accuracy of optional KS1 test or teacher assessment results, and there is no statutory duty to do so.
This does not include the phonics screening check, which remains statutory.
Breakdown of maladministration cases
The table below details the number of maladministration cases STA investigated.
Table 1 - Number of cases investigated (% against schools participating)
| Year | RBA | Phonics | MTC | KS2* | Total number |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 24 (0.1%) | 42 (0.2%) | 21 (0.1%) | 431 (2.6%) | 579** |
| 2024 | 23 (0.1%) | 26 (0.2%) | 14 (0.1%) | 609 (3.7%) | 672 |
*including teacher assessment
**including 61 cases at the end of KS1
Sources of reported maladministration cases
Cases of alleged maladministration are reported to STA from several different sources. Table 2 details these sources and the percentages of these against the total number of cases received.
Table 2 - Sources of reported cases (% against schools participating)
| Assessment | Anonymous | School* | Marker | Teacher | Local authority | Parent | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RBA | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 22 (0.13%) |
| Phonics | 4 (0.02%) | 16 (0.1%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 6 (0.04%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| MTC | 0 (0%) | 11 (0.07%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 2 (0.01%) |
| KS2** | 62 (0.38%) | 229 (1.40%) | 224 (1.37%) | 15 (0.09% | 45 (0.27%) | 22 (0.13%) | 12 (0.07%) |
*School’s senior leadership team
**includes teacher assessment
Other sources include:
- governing body
- parent of another pupil
- secondary school
- Ofqual
- Ofsted
- family member of pupil
- third party supplier
Breakdown of allegation types
The table below gives a breakdown of allegations by type and the percentage of these against the total number of cases.
Table 3 - Allegation types (% against schools participating)
| Allegation | RBA | Phonics | MTC | KS2 tests | KS2 teacher assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incorrect completion of transcripts | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 227 (1.38%) | 0 (0%) |
| Test administrator over-aiding pupils | 0 (0%) | 10 (0.06%) | 1 (0.01%) | 155 (0.95%) | 0 (0%) |
| Unauthorised test timetable variation | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 88 (0.54%) | 0 (0%) |
| Incorrect administration | 9 (0.05%) | 4 (0.02%) | 10 (0.06%) | 5 (0.03%) | 0 (0%) |
| Wrongly opened test packs | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 27 (0.16%) | 0 (0%) |
| Test security breach | 2 (0.01%) | 1 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 15 (0.09%) | 0 (0%) |
| Unauthorised additional time | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 15 (0.09%) | 0 (0%) |
| Incorrect completion of RBA | 12 (0.07%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Displays not covered | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 1 (0.01%) | 7 (0.04%) | 0 (0%) |
| Changes to paper in another hand | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 7 (0.04%) | 0 (0%) |
| Inappropriate storage of tests | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 7 (0.04%) | 0 (0%) |
| Other | 0 (0%) | 7 (0.04%) | 2 (0.01%) | 52 (0.32%) | 4 (0.02%) |
Other allegation types include:
- incorrect papers given to pupils
- inappropriate room for the test or check
- inappropriate coaching of pupils
- inappropriate teacher assessment practices
Annulments and amendments to results
Following an investigation, if STA finds that the accuracy of a pupil’s results is in doubt, we contact the school and ask it to provide any relevant information or representations that may enable us to understand the situation. Following this, if we conclude maladministration has occurred, STA may take the decision to annul or amend results. STA communicates this decision to the school.
Where a school believes a pupil has gained an advantage because they have cheated, the headteacher notifies STA of the incident on the Primary Assessment Gateway. In doing this, they agree to either the removal of marks for the specific questions where the pupil has gained an advantage or the annulment of the pupil’s paper.
The table below gives a breakdown of annulments by type and the percentage of these against the total number of cases. Pupils who gained an advantage because of cheating are not included in this table.
In some cases, STA may conclude that maladministration has not occurred but there remain residual concerns – for example, findings may suggest potential inappropriate assistance. In those cases, STA will work with local authorities and schools to help improve test administration processes for the next test cycle.
Table 4 – Annulments in at least one subject (% against schools participating)
| Annulments | RBA 2023 | RBA 2024 | Phonics 2023 | Phonics 2024 | MTC 2023 | MTC 2024 | KS2 tests 2023 | KS2 tests 2024 | KS2 teacher assessment 2023 | KS2 teacher assessment 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole cohort | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 2 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 3 (0.02%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Partial cohort | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 4 (0.02%) | 1 (0.01%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 3 (0.01%) | 4 (0.02%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Individual pupil | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.01%) | 3 (0.02%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 29 (0.10%) | 39 (0.24%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
| Total annulments | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 6 (0.03%) | 6 (0.04%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | 34 (0.20%) | 46 (0.28%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) |
Pupils who gained an advantage because of cheating are not included in the table above. There were 29 pupils with annulments due to notifications of cheating.