The GCSE and A-level appeals process is set to see “significant improvements” according to Ofqual chief Glenys Stacey.

She was speaking at a Commons Education Select Committee about proposals for a new appeals system to be announced later this month.

Something certainly needs to be done as the number of appeals against exam results has increased year-on-year over the last five years 414, 850 grades challenged in 2014 compared to 189, 450 in 2010. Of the appeals submitted in 2014, 77,400 resulted in grades being changed.

However, it is not the number of appeals that is a cause for concern so much as the fees charged by exam boards for re-marking. The cost of appealing a grade varies across exam boards, with each board free to set their own fees. For example, Edexcel charges £23 for a non-priority GCSE re-mark, compared to OCR who charge £42.50.

An OCR spokesperson stated that,

What we charge is designed to cover our costs and no more than that.”

But exam boards are making money from the appeals process, since fees are only waived when a grade is changed. AQA, for example, received £4.7m last year from schools and parents who had paid to appeal grades. It is estimated that exam appeals cost parents and schools more than £10 million last year.

This cost of appealing grades has created a split between independent schools who can better afford to appeal grades and less wealthy state schools.

Ms. Stacey even noted a trend of some schools sending back papers for appeal “come what may.” She added that this “strategic” appealing “doesn’t seem particularly fair” for all schools and parents.

This view is supported by Brian Lightman, the leader of the ASCL head teachers’ union, who contends that “many independent schools can afford to submit large numbers of re-marks whereas some state schools will struggle financially,” adding, “Parents often pay for them.”