Ofqual crisis: under-fire exam watchdog makes urgent plea for help

The regulator is desperately seeking help following the dramatic resignation of chief executive Sally Collier. It has put out an urgent tender for a team of senior PR experts to help with

media advice and strategy. They will work at Ofqual’s HQ in Coventry from next week until Christmas - covering the potentially chaotic A-level and GCSE exam resits in October and November.

The tender notice, which ends tomorrow, status: “We are looking for a senior press office service to provide media advice and strategy to the Chief Regulator and the Board in a fast-paced

and demanding environment. “The successful Tenderer will be expected to deliver the following: a) a demand-responsive and resilient service on a full-time basis which will include weekends.

“b) to develop and lead media campaigns and to implement Ofqual's recovery plan.” The watchdog will be forking out up to £80,000 of taxpayers cash on the roles. One MP said: “They’ll

need more than just a few press officers to sort the mess out from the summer.” Ms Collier resigned last month after four years in the post. Her departure follows angry clashes with

ministers over responsibility for the A-level and GCSE grading fiasco.  She will be temporarily replaced by her predecessor Dame Glenys Stacey while a successor is sought. Fury over the

downgrading of A-level results led to the Government abandoning Ofqual’s computer algorithm for determining grades introduced after the coronavirus pandemic led to the scrapping of exams. In

an embarrassing U-turn, ministers agreed that teachers’ predicted grades could be used as the final result for A levels and GCSE instead.