Thousands of students risk their qualifications by taking phones into exam hall as GCSE and A Level exams begin

Ofqual's Chief Regulator Sir Ian Bauckham is urging students not to take mobile phones or smart devices into exam halls as the summer 2026 GCSE and A Level series begins, warning that doing so puts their qualifications at serious risk.

Last summer, there were 2,225 cases of mobile phone and smart device cheating, and this has remained the most common category of student cheating every year in which exams have taken place since 2018.

Of those cases, 545 resulted in students being disqualified from some or all of their qualifications, while 1,240 cases resulted in a loss of marks. For those students, the consequences may be serious and lasting. 

Losing marks or a qualification may affect university applications, apprenticeship offers and employment prospects — all outcomes that are entirely avoidable.

Sir Ian Bauckham, Chief Regulator at Ofqual, said:

With exams starting in England, I want to speak directly to students: please leave your phone at home, or hand it in before you go into the exam hall. The rules are straightforward.

Being found with a smart device during an exam can have serious consequences, including loss of marks or disqualification from the subject. Do not become one of those statistics and risk your qualification and your future prospects. Keep your phone out of the exam hall.

Notes to editors

1. You can access statistics on malpractice in GCSE, AS and A Level qualifications for the summer 2025 exam series here.

2. In summer 2025, there were 5,025 cases of malpractice involving students across GCSE, AS and A Level, with 4,735 individual students receiving at least one penalty. This represents 0.3% of the 1,376,480 students with results issued in summer 2025.

3. Mobile phone and other smart device offences accounted for 2,225 cases (44.3% of all student malpractice) in summer 2025, up from 2,140 cases (41.5%) in summer 2024.

4. Mobile phone and other smart device offences have been the most common category of student malpractice in every summer exam series where exams were available since 2018, the earliest year for which directly comparable data is available.