July 2026
This month’s roundup covers a regulatory penalty against Cambridge English and what it means for IELTS candidates, a large acquisition in the US testing sector, tighter immigration fraud checks in Canada, and the latest on UK visa and settlement requirements following a change of Prime Minister
IELTS developments
Ofqual concludes its investigation into 2023 to 2025 marking errors
The UK’s qualifications regulator, Ofqual, has formally closed its investigation into the automated marking fault that affected IELTS Listening and Reading results between August 2023 and September 2025. It has issued Cambridge English, one of the three IELTS partners, a penalty of £875,000. The fault involved ‘gap match’ (sentence completion) questions. An error in how answer keys were passed between systems, combined with inconsistent handling of accented characters, caused some responses to be marked incorrectly.
Ofqual’s notice states that Cambridge English identified and self-reported the issue in September 2025, and has since corrected every affected result, spending more than £6 million on remediation, compensation and a dedicated support hub. Of the roughly 7.7 million tests taken during the period, 93,865 individual responses were affected. 21,717 candidates received a revised overall band score, and most of those corrections were upward. Only four cases affected UK visa eligibility, and in each of those the candidate resat and subsequently met the requirement. IELTS has publicly apologised and accepted responsibility for the error.
This kind of independent, external oversight is part of what gives IELTS results their credibility with universities, employers and immigration authorities worldwide. Ofqual’s regulatory status means every error, however small, is investigated, reported and corrected under public scrutiny. Many competing tests are not regulated in the same way.
If you sat IELTS for UKVI purposes between August 2023 and September 2025 and have not already been contacted, you can check with IELTS directly to confirm your result was reviewed. For everyone else, this episode changes nothing about how to prepare or what score you need. It confirms that IELTS results are subject to rigorous, independent regulatory oversight.
Source: Ofqual / GOV.UK penalty notice, 11 June 2026; IELTS partner statement.
Ofqual branding now live on test report forms
As previewed in recent editions, IELTS Test Report Forms (TRFs) generated from 17 July 2026 onward now carry the official Ofqual logo and qualification title. This is part of the wider Action Plan Cambridge English agreed with the regulator. Test takers with an existing TRF can request a reissued copy at no charge, though this is not compulsory. Existing TRFs remain fully valid.
IELTS with Writing on Paper expands to London
IELTS computer-delivered testing with Writing on Paper, an option allowing candidates to handwrite their Writing responses rather than typing them on a computer, became available in the UK for the first time on 13 July 2026, launching initially at a test centre in Chiswick, London. The option was already available in Canada and Nepal.
Research continues into the role of AI in speaking assessment
Language Testing Journal has published a new peer-reviewed debate piece examining whether AI-driven conversational agents could replace human examiners in high-stakes interactive speaking tests. The article, involving contributors from Cambridge University Press & Assessment and researchers worldwide, weighs the practical and validity arguments on both sides.
IELTS continues to use trained human examiners for its Speaking test, an approach valued by universities and immigration authorities for the authenticity it captures in a live conversation, something automated systems are still working to replicate reliably at scale.
The wider English language testing sector
ETS acquires ACT in a major US testing deal
Educational Testing Service (ETS), the organisation behind TOEFL and the GRE, announced on 30 June 2026 that it has acquired ACT, the college-admissions test long used across the US Midwest and South. ACT will continue to operate under its own name, and both organisations say no immediate changes are planned for test takers. The deal follows ACT’s 2024 sale to a private equity firm and brings two of America’s largest assessment organisations under common ownership.
The acquisition is a domestic US college-admissions story rather than an English-proficiency one, but it shows how much consolidation and change is under way across the wider testing industry at present. IELTS, in contrast, has kept a stable three-partner governance structure (British Council, IDP Education and Cambridge English) for more than three decades.
Source: ETS press release, 30 June 2026; Inside Higher Ed, EdWeek.
Paper TOEFL score reports discontinued
ETS has confirmed that, after 26 July 2026, it will no longer issue paper score reports for TOEFL iBT under any circumstances, having already moved to a paid-only paper option earlier this year. All score reporting is now exclusively digital.
IELTS, by comparison, continues to offer candidates a Test Report Form at no additional cost, in the format that best suits their institution’s or visa authority’s requirements.
Search interest patterns in the Canadian market
Industry commentary has noted that, for the first time, online search interest in CELPIP has overtaken search interest in IELTS within Canada, reflecting the continued growth of Prometric-delivered tests in that market.
It is worth noting that IELTS is accepted for both immigration and university admissions in Canada, while CELPIP is currently used for immigration purposes only, so the two are not fully interchangeable for a Canadian applicant weighing up study and settlement plans together.
Note: search-interest trends are indicative only and are not a measure of actual test volumes or market share.
International migration news for IELTS candidates
United Kingdom
Andy Burnham was sworn in as UK Prime Minister on 20 July 2026, succeeding Keir Starmer after a Labour Party leadership transition. No changes to visa rules, English language requirements, or immigration policy have been announced as a direct result of the change in leadership, and existing timelines, including the move to CEFR B2 for indefinite leave to remain from 26 March 2027, remain in place for now. Candidates with UK plans should continue working to their existing target dates and watch for any policy announcements as the new government’s agenda becomes clearer over the coming months.
Separately, UKCISA (the UK Council for International Student Affairs) published new research in June, based on surveys and focus groups with around 750 international students. It found that many students are unsure which English tests and evidence routes are accepted by which universities, and it calls for clearer, more consistent communication from institutions. The research was funded in part by Duolingo English Test, one of the bidders for the Home Office’s HOELT contract, so its findings should be read with that context in mind. The underlying recommendation, that universities communicate requirements more clearly, benefits candidates regardless of which test they choose.
The Home Office’s tender process for its own branded English test (HOELT), intended for certain visa categories, remains ongoing, with a fully remote, digital-by-default delivery model still the stated goal. No supplier has yet been announced.
If you are planning to settle permanently in the UK, budget for CEFR B2 (broadly equivalent to an IELTS score of around 5.5 to 6.5 depending on the skill) well ahead of the March 2027 deadline for indefinite leave to remain applications, and keep an eye on this newsletter for any policy updates from the new government.
Canada
IRCC updated its internal guidance to processing officers on 23 June 2026, introducing tighter checks against language-testing fraud. Officers must now cross-reference a candidate’s photograph in the language test verification portal against the photograph submitted with their application, document any discrepancies, and check for existing fraud alerts before finalising a decision. The list of designated tests and organisations has not changed.
This is a welcome step for genuine test takers. Proxy test-taking has been a persistent integrity problem across the industry, and stronger identity verification protects the value of a genuinely earned score. IELTS’s global network of accredited test centres, together with rigorous in-person identity checks at registration, remains one of its core strengths for candidates who want their result to be trusted without question.
The previously flagged proposal to extend mandatory language testing to certain International Mobility Program work permit categories, including some Spousal Open Work Permits, has not yet been pre-published in the Canada Gazette. IRCC continues to point to a spring/summer 2026 target for that step, with any new requirement not expected to take effect before 2027. We will continue to track this closely and report as soon as there is a firm publication date.
Source: CIC News, 24 June 2026; IRCC guidance update, 23 June 2026.
No new language-testing rules are yet in force for Canadian work permits. If you are applying under the International Mobility Program, current requirements remain unchanged for now, but it is worth checking back each month, as this is expected to change within the next year.