Notice

Pearson: Notice of Intention to fine: September 2016

Intention to fine Pearson following failure to comply with 6 conditions of recognition that affected a variety of vocational qualifications.

From:
Ofqual
Published
22 September 2016

Applies to England

Documents

Pearson - notice of intention to impose a monetary penalty

PDF, 183 KB, 6 pages

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Details

Ofqual today (22 September) formally issued Pearson with a notice explaining our intention to fine it £85,000.

Pearson admitted failing to meet 6 general conditions of recognition in connection with an incident that affected a variety of vocational qualifications between 22 April 2015 and January 2016. Our enforcement committee found that:

  1. Pearson did not adequately plan the introduction of a new IT system, because an incident occurred in the transition of learner and centre data (Condition A5.3(b)).

  2. Pearson issued inaccurate results to 551 learners (Condition H5.1 and H6.1(d)).

  3. Pearson issued certificates with incorrect names to 41 learners and certificates with inaccurate results to 1566 learners (Condition I4.1(d)).

  4. Pearson failed to issue results on time for 1,648 qualifications (Condition H6.1(e)).

  5. Pearson failed to issue certificates on time for 10,851 qualifications (Condition I4.1(b)).

A copy of the legal document served on Pearson is provided on this page.

Pearson has accepted our intention to make it pay a fine which takes into account the sum (over £5 million) it has spent resolving the incident, and the fact that Pearson has a good history of compliance with Ofqual conditions, notified us promptly about the incident, cooperated with us thereafter, and has taken a number of steps to rectify and mitigate the breaches and to prevent a re-occurrence.

Pearson will have 28 days to send us evidence or material in support of its case. Any interested parties can also send evidence and material to us during the same period.

Published 22 September 2016

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