General information for England, not advice. Exam boards and centres change their fees and dates every year, so confirm each one with the centre before you book.
What a centre does, and what it might not
The centre makes the entry with the board, seats your child in the exam room under its invigilators, and applies for any access arrangements. Results come back through it as well, not to you, and certificates normally reach the centre within 10 weeks of results (the booklet for private candidates on the WJEC Eduqas website).
The part a centre may turn down is the work outside the exam room. Coursework (non-exam assessment, or NEA) has to be supervised, authenticated and marked by the centre, and AQA says a centre must only accept a private candidate if it's willing to do that, including for the A level science practicals. At GCSE, AQA's conditions mean the centre has to run the science practicals, give your child the chance to complete the English language spoken language endorsement, and supervise the speaking tests in languages.
Some centres won't do it. One independent school's page rules out offering coursework, practical exams or NEA to private candidates. Our guides to GCSEs as a private candidate and A levels as a private candidate go through which subjects that affects.
The kinds of centre
- Schools and academies near you, usually only for subjects their own students already sit, according to AQA. Ask about the exact board and specification.
- Independent schools. Some take external candidates and publish a price list.
- Further education and sixth-form colleges.
- Tutorial colleges, some of which run exam centres for external candidates, and private exam centres.
None of them has to say yes. Ofqual's student guide for 2026 says it in one line: "Not all schools and colleges accept entries for private candidates." The centre may also be some distance from your home, as the DfE's guidance for parents warns (paragraph 3.6).
Where to look
The exam boards won't enter your child themselves, and most of them send you to the same place: the Joint Council for Qualifications' searchable list of centres that accept private candidates for GCSE, AS and A level. JCQ updates it once a year, in December or January. Being missing from it doesn't stop a centre taking you.
| Board | What its private candidate page gives you |
|---|---|
| AQA | Advice, a link to the JCQ list, and the conditions for each subject |
| Pearson Edexcel | A link to the JCQ list |
| OCR | A link to the JCQ list and its fee lists |
| WJEC Eduqas | A link to the JCQ list and a booklet for private candidates; it keeps no list of its own |
| Cambridge International | Its own school search, which shows whether each school accepts private candidates, and a third-party placement service it doesn't quality-assure |
For Cambridge IGCSEs, read the syllabus as well: Cambridge says some syllabuses or options aren't open to private candidates.
Your council and other families
Councils don't have to find you a centre, but some help. The DfE's guidance for local authorities gives "assistance with identifying exam centres willing to accept external candidates" as one example of extra support a council might offer (paragraph 10.18). Suffolk's GCSE helpsheet for home educators names local schools and academies that have taken external candidates, and WJEC Eduqas suggests contacting your local authority if you can't find a centre.
Other home-educating families nearby are worth asking as well. They'll know which centres answered the phone, what they charged and how the day went.
What to ask a centre before you book
Ask for the exams officer, and have the board, specification and entry code for each subject ready. Then ask:
- Which boards and specifications do you take, and can you enter Foundation or Higher tier as we choose?
- What's your own deadline for private candidates? It may be earlier than the boards' 21 February date.
- What's the total per subject, and what does it cover: the board's fee, administration, invigilation, the room?
- Do you charge per subject or per paper?
- Where will my child sit, and will they be with your own students?
- What ID do you need? AQA asks for a name and date of birth that can be checked against a birth certificate, passport or photo driving licence, and Eduqas expects photo ID at each exam.
- Can you put access arrangements in place, who does the assessment, and is there a charge for it?
- Can you supervise the practicals, speaking tests, endorsement or coursework this subject needs?
- How will we get the results and certificates?
- What happens to the money if my child withdraws or is ill?
Get the answers in writing. AQA warns that if you don't pay, the centre may not let your child sit the exam.
What the bill is made of
| Part | Who sets it | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Board entry fee | The board | Published per subject; the centre pays it and charges it back to you |
| Centre fee | The centre | Administration, invigilation and the room; some centres include the entry fee in one price |
| Late entry fee | The board | Added when the centre enters after the boards' deadline |
| Speaking tests, practicals | The centre | May be charged on top, where the centre offers them at all |
| Access arrangements | The centre | Ask whether the assessment is charged |
| Reviews of marking | The board | Only if you ask for one after results |
Board fees
The boards' published fees for UK centres, which change every year:
| Qualification | AQA, summer 2027 | OCR, 2026/27 | Pearson Edexcel, 2026/27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| GCSE mathematics | £52.85 | £57.25 | £56.65 |
| GCSE English language | £52.85 | £58.25 | £58.10 |
| A level mathematics | £150.30 | £167.40 | £165.65 |
Sources: AQA's summer 2027 fees (pages 9, 10 and 15), OCR's 2026/27 fee list (pages 6 and 7) and Pearson's UK fees for 2026/27 (pages 5, 6 and 8). Pearson's International GCSEs cost £69.05 a subject in the UK, or £106.85 for a modern foreign language (page 9).
Centre fees
This is where prices differ most, and the boards have no say. Pearson says it has no control over the administration fees your centre charges. Two published examples are put together quite differently:
- St George's School in Harpenden lists, for 2026-27, the board's entry fee plus £140 a subject for private candidates, and £50 more for a language oral with one of its teachers.
- Tranby, an independent school in Anlaby, East Yorkshire, charges one price that includes the entry, administration, invigilation and room: £200 per GCSE or IGCSE, £500 for GCSE combined science and £400 per A level. Its page doesn't say which exam series that's for.
Neither is a typical price. Ask two or three centres and compare the total per subject.
Does the council pay?
Not as a rule. If you home educate, the cost of exams is yours, though some councils may help at their discretion (DfE guidance for parents, paragraph 3.6). The guidance for councils says the same (paragraph 1.4), and points out that there's no requirement to enter children for public exams at all (paragraph 2.4). Councils get no funding to support home-educating families, except for high-needs special educational needs (paragraph 10.18). Ask yours whether it has a policy on exam costs, but don't count on one. Our piece on the cost of home education puts exams in the wider budget.
When to book for summer 2027
Centres set their own deadlines, which can come well before the boards'. For a subject with practicals or coursework, the time to book is before the course starts: WJEC Eduqas tells private candidates to find a centre before they start studying. Suffolk's helpsheet asks families to arrange it no later than the beginning of November to avoid extra administration costs.
For June 2027 GCSEs and A levels, AQA, OCR and Pearson all set the entry deadline at 21 February 2027. After that, the late fees differ:
| Board | Late entry, from 22 February 2027 | Very late entry |
|---|---|---|
| AQA | Twice the entry fee in total | Two and a half times, after 21 April |
| OCR | Twice the entry fee in total | Three times, from 22 April |
| Pearson Edexcel | Twice the entry fee in total | Three times, from 22 April |
Refunds have deadlines too. AQA gives the centre a credit for entries withdrawn up to 21 April 2027 and doesn't refund late fees. OCR's refund window for June GCSEs closes on 21 March 2027 (21 April for A levels), and Pearson refunds entries withdrawn before its high late fee date. All three consider medical evidence after that. What reaches you is up to the centre: Eduqas's booklet says any refund to a private candidate is at the centre's discretion.
November resits in English and maths
GCSE English language and maths can also be sat in November, but only by students who were 16 or older on 31 August of that year (Ofqual's rule, set out in the background to its entry statistics). For November 2026, the entry deadline at AQA, OCR and Pearson was 4 October 2026, so that one has gone. If you're planning a November resit, check the boards' dates for November 2027 and talk to a centre over the summer.
Pearson also runs a November series for its International GCSEs, with an earlier deadline: 12 September in 2026.