Report analyses Home Office’s response to English language test cheating

• in 2014, the Home Office obtained evidence of large-scale organised fraud from multiple sources

• virtually every test in the UK was identified as suspicious

• for two years the department revoked the visas of anyone with an invalid test, without expert assurance of the validity of voice recognition evidence

• in 2016, the Home Office’s independent expert estimated that voice recognition checks would have identified substantially fewer than 1% of people of cheating incorrectly, based on a series of assumptions

• most but not all people identified as cheating had very high marks

• it is difficult to estimate accurately how many people may have been wrongly identified

• thousands of people accused of cheating have still won the right to remain in the UK

• NAO saw no evidence that the department considered whether individuals had been misclassified or that there were anomalies

• it was not possible for the department to directly check the accuracy of classifications

Source: Investigation into the response to cheating in English language tests