Students affected by SQE fiasco to receive refund
updated on 03 August 2022
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More than a hundred aspiring solicitors were unable to sit the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE) on Thursday 21 July 2022 due to an IT issue at the Hammersmith test centre. The tests have now been rescheduled and students, who had spent over five hours in the test centre, have been offered a refund.
SQE1 comprises of two ‘functioning legal knowledge’ (FLK) papers, known as FLK1 and FLK2. Both papers have now been rescheduled to take place at the Chiswick test centre for those impacted by the cancellation – FLK1 for Thursday 04 August 2022 and FLK2 for Monday 08 August 2022. Students who are unable to attend the rescheduled exam dates have the option of attending the next scheduled sitting in January 2023.
A spokesperson for US-based Kaplan Inc, who were responsible for the test delivery, said: “In light of the issues experienced by SQE1 candidates at the Pearson Vue test centre in Hammersmith, all those affected will have their fees fully refunded and will not need to pay for their rescheduled assessment. Any candidates choosing not to take the rescheduled assessment will receive a voucher to cover the cost of a future SQE1 booking.” In addition, the spokesperson confirmed that: “Pearson Vue will refund out of pocket expenses in relation to the assessments that were cancelled at Hammersmith.”
