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British Council IELTS Cancellation & Refund Policy

All test cancellations and/or changes are managed directly by your IELTS test centre. Please contact your test centre  for more information. Please refer to the policy below.

The cancellation and refund policy

Cancellations:

The temporary COVID-19 cancellation and transfer policy was removed in effect from 13 June 2022. All the Refunds and Transfers will be as per the IELTS General Cancellation and Transfer policy below.

General cancellation policy:

Time to Test Date

More than 14 days prior to the day of the test:

If you cancel your IELTS test registration more than 14 days prior to the day of the test, you will receive a 75% refund of the total test fee.

Within 14 days, but more than 5 days prior to the day of the test:

If you cancel your test between 14 and 5 days before the day of your test you can receive a refund of 50% of the full test fee. Cancellations made after this time are not eligible for a refund.

Five days or less prior to the day of the test:

If you cancel your IELTS test registration five days or less prior to the day of the test, you will not receive any refund.

Transfers:

More than 14 days before the test:

  • You may change your test date at any time more than 14 days before the test.
  • You must select a test date, where available, within the next three months from your original test date. If your preferred test date is more than three months after your original test date then your transfer will be treated as a cancellation.
  • You can only transfer the same booking once.
  • Your test centre may charge an administration fee of up to 25% of the total test fee.

Please note that transfers are only possible with in the same test centre.

 Within 14 days before the test:

Any transfer requests within 14 days of the test will be treated as a cancellation.

Test taker exceptions

You may make a case for exceptional circumstances to your test centre before the test and up to five days after the test date if you did not attend the test. Your test centre will respond to you within seven working days of receiving your case in writing. Your test centre will assess your case for exceptional circumstances.

All cases for exceptional circumstances and supporting evidence must be received by your test centre no later than five days after the scheduled test date.

If your test centre approves your case, you will receive a full refund less an administration fee of no more than 25% of the test fee.

If your test centre does not approve your case, then the terms given in Section 1 will apply.

We define exceptional circumstances as:

  • serious medical conditions which prevent you from attending or performing normally on test day; such conditions require supporting evidence of a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner
  • evidence of bereavement, trauma or other forms of significant hardship
  • military service.

Test centre exceptions

Under certain circumstances outside test centre control, we may have to cancel your test. These circumstances include, and are not limited to, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster, civil unrest and industrial action.

In these circumstances, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of either:

  • a full refund, or
  • a transfer to a future test date convenient to you.

In cases where your test centre cancels a test under circumstances within its control then in addition to a full refund or transfer to another test date, you may be eligible to apply for compensation for expenses incurred. Your eligibility will be assessed as a reasonable claim or not by the test centre and any compensation will be awarded depending on the following conditions:

  • The test centre will assess whether the decision to cancel is within or outside its control.
  • Any compensation awarded will be limited to travel and accommodation expenses only and which are:
  1. directly incurred as a result of planning your attendance on test day
  2. evidenced by payment receipt(s)
  3. evidenced that cancelled travel and/or accommodation charges are non-recoverable from vendor
  4. benchmarked against lowest reasonable market rates for the expenses in question (this will be carried out by the test centre).
  • If you travel further than the closest test venue to your normal place of residence then the test center will not find your claim reasonable.
  • in the circumstances, when a test centre has to cancel or reschedule a computer delivered IELTS test due to lack of minimum number of test takers required to run the session or for any technical errors which are beyond its control the above rule (compensation) won’t be applicable

Admin fee for Enquiry On Results Refunds

You will receive a refund if your result is changed to a higher band score. An administrative fee of CAD 25 will be deducted.

It is important that you read and accept the IELTS terms and conditions when you register for the test. You also receive the terms and conditions in the Information for Candidates brochure  , which is included with the application form. The terms and conditions contain important information, including details of:

  • the rules you need to follow
  • security precautions taken when you sit your test
  • the results process
  • cancellation process
  • how we use your information.

When you sign the declaration in the application form or tick the terms and conditions box if you are applying online, you are confirming that you have read and understood the IELTS terms and conditions and agree to abide by them.