The following cancellation and refund policy apply to the IELTS exam in modalities such as regular IELTS on paper, IELTS on computer, IELTS for UKVI Life Skills and IELTS for UKVI.
Please visit our Take IELTS site for the IELTS Online cancellation policy.
Cancellations
You can cancel your registration for IELTS on paper, IELTS on computer, IELTS for UKVI Life Skills and IELTS for UKVI by notifying your examining centre. The refund conditions depend on when you cancel and if exceptional circumstances apply.
To request a refund for an IELTS Academic and General Training exam: Go to your Test Taker Portal. Then click on "date of the exam", then on "date & location". Finally, click on “I want to change this booking” and click on the item “request cancellation”.
For IELTS for UKVI and IELTS for UKVI Life Skills reimbursement requests fill in the form below, keeping the original excel format.
If your IELTS will take place in the cities of Belém, Belo Horizonte, Boa Vista, Curitiba, Florianópolis, Londrina, Manaus or Porto Alegre, you will need to contact the Test Centre directly.
1. Time to test date
1.1. More than 14 days before the test:
If you cancel your IELTS test registration more than 14 days before the test you will receive a 75% refund of the total test fee.
1.2. Within 14 days but more than two days before the test:
If you cancel your IELTS test registration within 14 days but more than two days before the test you will receive a 50% refund of the total test fee.
1.3 Within three days of the test:
If you cancel your IELTS test registration within three days of the test you will not receive a refund.
1.4. On the test day or after the test:
If you cancel your IELTS test registration on the test day or after the test, no refund will be provided.
2. Test taker exceptions
You may make a case for exceptional circumstances to your test centre before the test and up to five working 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 working days after the scheduled test date.
If your test centre approves your case, you will receive a full refund less an administration fee equivalent to 25%.
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
3. 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:
- directly incurred as a result of planning your attendance on test day,
- evidenced by payment receipt(s),
- evidenced that cancelled travel and/or accommodation charges are non-recoverable from vendor,
- 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 centre will not find your claim reasonable.
B. Transfers
You can request a single change of date for your IELTS exam if you are within the following deadlines and times (as applicable):
• More than 14 days before the exam and more than three days before the date of the first section to be evaluated of your IELTS exam:
If you are within this time to the date of your exam (excluding the day of the first component to be evaluated), you can do it for an additional 25% of the value paid for the exam.
You must select a new test date - if and when available - within three months of your original test date. If you wish to change your test date to one that is later than three months after your initial test date, we will treat your date change as a cancellation.
You can change the date of your IELTS test only once.
• Within 14 and three days before the date of the first section of your IELTS test:
If you are within this time to the date of your exam (excluding the day of the first component to be evaluated), you can do it for an additional 50% of the value paid for the exam.
You must select a new test date - if and when available - within three months of your original test date. If you wish to change your test date to one that is later than three months after your initial test date, we will treat your date change as a cancellation.
You can change the date of your IELTS test only once.
• Within 3 days before the exam:
Any date change request made within 3 days of the exam date will be considered a cancellation. Consult section A. Cancellation of your IELTS exam on this same page for the conditions that will apply in this case.
Notes
i.Your test centre is responsible for issuing refunds and organising transfers.
ii.Under section A. 2., the test centre is responsible for decisions related to test taker claims for exceptional circumstances.
iii.Under section A. 3., the test centre is responsible for decisions related to compensation, including eligibility and any amounts awarded.
iv.If local consumer protection law in the country you have registered to take the IELTS test provides for cancellation and transfer rights which are more favourable to the test taker than the rights set out above, then local consumer protection law will apply.