Secretary of State for Education (): InMay,Year 6children
across Englandsat theirend of KeyStage2National Curriculum
Testsknown as SATs.Schools were expectingthe resultsof these
tests to be returned to them onTuesday7July2026 butI
aminformingtheHouse thatthere will be a delayuntilThursday 16
July 2026.
PearsonEducation Limitedwasawarded the contract todeliver KS2
tests on behalf of the Standards andTesting Agencyin
April2024,andit has responsibility forall testlogisticsincluding
delivering andcollectingtestpapers fromschools,markingand
returningresults to schools.
The Government was told on Wednesday 1 July thatPearson was not
ready touploadresults to the online portalfor schools andrequired
additionaltime to ensure thesystem isready for schools to access.
The Government is very clearthatthe delay is due to issues with
Pearson's systems and not concerns about the quality of the
testsor the results. The test scripts have been marked and
quality assured, and the standardsmaintenance process, which
allows us to show comparison withpreviouscohorts, was completed
on schedule on Thursday 2 July 2026. The Standards and Testing
Agencyisconfidentthat it had sufficient representative data to
undertake the standards maintenanceprocess which underpinsour
ability to compare the expected standard of the tests fromyear
toyear.
Pearsonhasfully apologised for their failure to return results on
time and for the impact on schools,pupilsand parents. The
inconvenience this delay will cause to school staff, parents and
pupils is unacceptable.
We will use all the provisions in the contract to ensure that
Pearson is held to account for their failures in delivery, and
will also review all possible options for future delivery,
alongside conducting a thorough review into how such a serious
failing could have occurred.
