City Lit offers two kinds of accredited courses:
- internally marked assessment /exams
- externally marked assessment /exams.
Internally marked assessments and exams
For internally marked assessments/exams, City Lit teachers assess work and award grades. The results are then sent to the awarding body which awards the qualification.
To ensure fairness and consistency, we have a quality assurance process of internal moderation and standardisation. The awarding body also sample teachers’ marking and our internal quality assurance procedures to make sure our judgements are consistent with other centres.
Where work is internally assessed, you have the right to appeal if you consider that, in relation to your work:
- An administrative, or similar, error has occurred.
- The assessment process was not conducted in accordance with the programme or unit guidelines, or our assessment policy.
- Bias, discrimination, or other material irregularity is evidenced.
- Your performance was affected by ill health or some other valid reason during the assessment.
Any assessment appeal should be supported by appropriate evidence, e.g. examples to support your submission or medical evidence.
You may not appeal the academic judgement of members of staff, nor their academic integrity. This includes the mark awarded for a particular piece of work or any judgement of demonstration of competence standards.
If you have a concern, you should, in the first instance, discuss the matter with your tutor/assessor. Alternatively, if you do not feel able to speak to your tutor/assessor, speak to the course leader. This should normally be done within one week of receiving the result of any assessment/exam.
If this does not resolve the matter, you should:
- Appeal in writing to the relevant Head of Programme, normally within two weeks of receiving the result of any assessment/exam.
- Supply any evidence you want considered.
- Tell us if you wish to meet as part of your appeal, e.g. to supply evidence, or if you are unable to put the details of your appeal in writing.
On receipt of an appeal the Head of Programme Area or Head of School will address your grounds and investigate as appropriate. We will send you a full response, normally within 20 working days. If your appeal is more complex and requires additional investigation it may take longer to respond to you. We will tell you by the end of the initial 20 working days if this is the case and will give an indication of how long it will take us to respond.
There is no further internal appeal. If you wish to make an external appeal (e.g. with the awarding body), you will be advised how to do this as part of our decision.
2. Externally marked assessments and exams
If your course is externally assessed or examined, appeals must be made according to the relevant awarding body’s appeals procedure. For further information, please contact the Exams Office within 2 weeks of receiving your results about the process, costs and deadlines for appeals.
2.1 GCSE/GCE exams
These exams are covered by the Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) Post-Results Enquires Service. You will be informed about deadlines and costs during your course. Information is also available on the City Lit Help Centre.
Candidates are not permitted to make direct representations to an awarding body. Awarding bodies will always advise that students must go through the college appeals process first.
2.2 Appeals following Reviews of Results (RoR) for GCSE/GCE exams
Appeals following RoR enquiries need to be submitted on your behalf by the Head of Centre within 30 days of receiving your outcome of the RoR.
To submit an appeal following RoR, you need to contact the Exams Office within 7 days from the date of the issue of the Review of Results outcome.
You will need to submit evidence that an awarding body has:
- Used procedures that were inconsistent with regulatory requirements.
- Applied its procedures improperly and unfairly in arriving at judgements.
- Improperly applied the marking scheme.
The Head of Centre, or their acting representative, will assess the evidence and decide whether your appeal fulfils the acceptable grounds as detailed in the JCQ Appeals Booklet. You will be informed of the outcome in writing within 10 working days.
2.3 Centre decision not to support an appeal following Review of Results
If you are unhappy with the Head of Centre’s decision not to submit an appeal on your behalf following a Review of Results, you can ask for the decision to be reviewed by another senior member of staff.
Contact the Exams Office within 3 days of receiving the Head of Centre’s decision, and submit further evidence to support the request for an appeal.
3. Access Arrangements or special considerations
In accordance with JCQ Access Arrangements and Reasonable Adjustments (AARA) and awarding‑body‑specific policies, City Lit:
- Recognises its duty to explore and provide access to suitable courses, through the access arrangements process submit applications for reasonable adjustments and make reasonable adjustments to the service the centre provides to disabled candidates.
- Complies with its responsibilities in identifying, determining and implementing appropriate access arrangements and reasonable adjustments.
Examples of failure to comply include:
- Putting in place access arrangements/adjustments that are not approved.
- Failing to consider putting in place access arrangements (which may be a failure to comply with the duty to make reasonable adjustments).
- Permitting access arrangements/adjustments within the centre which are not supported by appropriate evidence.
- Charging a fee for providing reasonable adjustments to disabled candidates’ AARA.
3.1 Special consideration
Special considerations are usually applied to nationally set GCSEs and GCEs exam sessions.
Where City Lit can provide appropriate evidence to support an application, it will ask the exam board for special consideration when a learner has a temporary difficulty—such as illness, injury, or another situation they cannot control. This will be done at the time of the assessment. Special consideration is requested when the problem has affected, or is likely to have affected, the learner’s ability to take the assessment or to show their usual level of performance.
City Lit will follow the JCQ Reasonable Adjustments and Special Considerations Policy, or other awarding body guidelines where JCQ regulations do not apply.
3.2 Appealing centre decisions on access arrangements, reasonable adjustments and special consideration
City Lit may decide not to make/apply for a specific reasonable adjustment, or not to apply for special consideration in cases where:
- A candidate does not meet the criteria, or
- There is no evidence/insufficient evidence, or
- A candidate has failed to request the access arrangements/provide appropriate evidence withing the timescale set out JCQ or by the awarding body.
Where City Lit makes a decision in relation to the access arrangement(s), reasonable adjustment(s) or special consideration that apply for a candidate or candidates, and you (or the candidate’s parent/carer) disagree with the decision made and reasonably believe that the centre has not complied with its responsibilities or followed due procedures, you should:
- Appeal in writing to the Head of Access, Inclusion and Support, normally within two weeks of receiving the result of any assessment/exam.
- Supply any evidence you want considered.
- Tell us if you wish to meet as part of your appeal; e.g. to supply evidence, or if you are unable to put the details of your appeal in writing.
To determine the outcome of the appeal, the Head of Service will consult the respective Joint Council for Qualifications (JCQ) publication to confirm the centre has complied with the principles and regulations governing access arrangements and/or special consideration and followed due procedures.
You will be informed of the outcome of the appeal within 20 working days. If your appeal is more complex and requires additional investigation it may take longer to respond to you. We will tell you by the end of the initial 20 working days if this is the case and will give an indication of how long it will take us to respond.
If the appeal is upheld, City Lit will proceed to implement the necessary arrangements/submit the necessary application.
Approved by the Governing Body July 2026
For further information, please contact the Exams Office by emailing exams@citylit.ac.uk.