Please note: This is the policy for IELTS (Academic and General Training), you can find the IELTS for UKVI cancellation and refund policy here.
Cancelling your IELTS test
If you cancel your IELTS test up to five weeks before the test date, you will receive a refund minus an administration fee of 25% of the test fee.
Should you cancel less than five weeks before the test date, British Council has the right to retain the whole fee.
Please note that refunds can take four to six weeks to process.
To cancel your Standard IELTS (Academic and General Training) test, please log in to the Test Taker Portal and submit a cancellation request, along with an upload of supporting documentation/evidence.
To cancel your UKVI or Life Skills test, please click here to go to our Refund Requests page
If an authentic medical certificate confirming illness on the date of the test is provided within two calendar days of the test date, the fee is refundable, minus an administration fee of 25% of the test fee. Only authentic medical certificates in a local language or English are accepted. If we have not received both required documents by the second calendar day after the test, you will be marked as absent and forfeit all claims.
Copies sent by fax or email are not accepted.
Please note that we do not accept sick notes issued by family members.
Requesting a test day transfer
If you need to change the date of your test from the date you originally booked, you can request a test day transfer up to five weeks before the test date. If you transfer your test date, you will be charged an administrative fee of 25% of the test fee.
Please note that the new test date must be within three months of the original date. In cases of illness, the transfer is possible within five weeks of the test if an original medical certificate is provided within two calendar days of the test date.
If you receive a transfer to a new test date (either before the test or due to illness) and are ill on the second test date, then you are not entitled to a refund of the test fee nor to any further transfer to a new test date.
Kindly click here to complete the Test Date Transfer form and submit a request for a test date transfer.
Exceptional circumstances and special consideration
On rare occasions, there may be instances where you are unable to attend your test or are disadvantaged on the test day owing to illness, injury, or another exceptional event outside your control and you no longer qualify for a standard cancellation, refund or transfer close to the test date. In these cases, including instances such as bereavement, civil unrest or domestic crisis, you may make an application to your test centre for special consideration due to exceptional circumstances. You can find more information on this process here.
Under certain circumstances outside of test centre control, we may have to cancel your test and transfer it to a future date. These circumstances include, but may not be limited to, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster, civil unrest, industrial action, global pandemic or for reasons of force majeure.
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 – whichever you prefer.
If your test is cancelled or postponed due to other circumstances such as technical failure, venue or environmental factors, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of a refund or a transfer to a future test.