The College of Policing has pledged that the people caught up in last week’s online exam cancellation will get decisions on whether they passed and what happens next by Thursday this week.

Frustrated entrants have been lobbying the College for answers following the suspension of the Inspectors’ exam due to and IT problem that slowed access to the online portal once they began answering questions.

Some entrants were able to complete the exam while others were delayed by buffering delays with the exam site that continued until the College suspended the exam within hours.

Talks with partners including the Police Federation has resulted in a deal whereby those that sufficiently completed exams will be marked and results reviewed by the debrief panel.

Anyone who completed the exam but has not passed will have the option to sit the test again when it is rescheduled. When that happens, the people who did not complete the exam will be able to pick up where they left off or restart again.  

Any papers that have sufficient enough answers to pass will be accepted and those candidates won’t have to resit.

The College said everyone will know what happens to them next by Thursday.

Deputy Chief Executive of the College, Deputy Chief Constable Bernie O’Reilly, said: “Our urgent recovery work continues and we are making significant progress towards being able to share results with those candidates who were able to complete the exam sufficiently.

“Due to the suspension of the exam, this work needs to be completed manually and we are working at pace to provide the results and new exam dates to candidates by no later than Thursday. We understand that candidates have put in an extraordinary amount of work for the exam and want to resolve the situation for them as quickly as possible.”

One of those involved in the negotiations told Police Oracle that the College had made the right decision but it also needed to protect the next round of online exams: “It shouldn’t have happened but the offer is more than fair. But everyone involved in the next sergeants’ exam is now on tenterhooks.”