Extenuating Circumstances

Extenuating Circumstances Policy

Extenuating circumstances are severe, exceptional, unforeseen, or unavoidable events which occur close to the date of the SJT and seriously affect your ability to undertake the SJT on the date of your appointment. Examples of extenuating circumstances are: bereavement, illness, health related circumstances, or personal circumstances which prevent you from taking your test. This list is not exhaustive, and all claims of extenuating circumstances will be reviewed on an individual basis.

How to claim for Extenuating Circumstances

If you believe that extenuating circumstances seriously affect(ed) your ability to take the SJT on the date of your appointment, you must submit an Extenuating Circumstances Claim Form to the UKFPO. You should also attach any relevant supporting evidence along with your claim form. Claims must be submitted at the earliest opportunity, and no later than one working day after the date of your SJT appointment.

You must not wait for an outcome of a Pearson VUE customer service case before submitting a claim for extenuating circumstances to the UKFPO.

By starting and completing the SJT, you are declaring yourself fit to sit. You cannot claim extenuating circumstances after you have completed the SJT.

The UKFPO will not consider any claim without a claim form. Once submitted, the UKFPO team will confirm receipt of your claim via email.

You may only claim extenuating circumstances once.

Extenuating circumstances claim form

You must complete the claim form and submit it, along with any relevant evidence (for example, medical/GP/police reports, bereavement) to: helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk.

F2 Stand-alone 2025 SJT extenuating circumstances claim form [.docx, 68.4 KB]

Outcomes of extenuating circumstances claims

Extenuating circumstances cannot be taken into consideration in the marking of your SJT. Instead, based on the information you provide in your extenuating circumstances claim form (and any additional evidence you provide), the UKFPO will consider whether it is appropriate to allow you to arrange a new SJT appointment. You will be notified of the outcome of your claim within 3 working days.

If your claim is approved, you will be authorised to re-sit the SJT on the next available date as a first attempt.

If your claim is rejected, you will not be authorised to re-sit the SJT. The score from your first sitting will be put forward for marking. If you did not sit the SJT on your first attempt, you will score 0.

Prior to booking an appointment to take the SJT via OnVUE, it is your responsibility to:
1) ensure that you read and understand all the guidance, and
2) undertake a system check with Pearson VUE. Information on system requirements is available on the Pearson VUE website.

If your OnVUE exam session fails, there will be no opportunity to reschedule unless it can be proven that the session failed due to circumstances beyond your control (for example, Pearson VUE’s system failing).

The UKFPO liaises closely with Pearson VUE and will be informed if any system errors occur with the OnVUE testing platform which could affect any UKFP applicants.

Test failures due to incorrect or insufficient system requirements (for example, lack of access to admin rights, inappropriate test environment) are not considered to be extenuating circumstances. In this scenario you will not be permitted to re-sit the SJT and your application will be withdrawn from the process.

If you experience technical issues before starting the test itself, you will be able to make a new SJT booking without needing to submit an extenuating circumstances claim. Please check your Pearson VUE online account to do this.

If you experience technical issues once you have started your test, you must submit an extenuating circumstances claim to the UKFPO with clear evidence of issues outside of your control. This will be considered by the UKFPO. If there is clear evidence of technical issues outside of your control, the team will consider whether it is appropriate to allow you to make a new SJT appointment.

If you miss your test and wish to schedule another appointment and the testing window has not yet come to an end, please contact the UKFPO immediately and supply the information requested in the extenuating circumstances claim form. You will not be able to re-book online via self-service without first being re-authorised to do so by the UKFPO.

Test centre availability is likely to be extremely limited during the testing window itself and you may be required to travel beyond your preferred locality. If you miss your appointment and the appointment is on the final day of the SJT testing window, the UKFPO cannot guarantee that you will be able to be accommodated.

Further information

By submitting a claim for extenuating circumstances, you agree to personal data being held for the purposes of processing the claim, in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

Confidential information will only be shared on a ‘need to know’ basis. If you wish to restrict the sharing of such information, you should make your wishes known in writing. Normally such wishes will be respected unless to do so would be against the best interests of safety or security of any person(s).

The UKFPO reserve the right to contact a third party directly to verify the evidence provided. The UKFPO reserves the right to request access to the extenuating circumstances claim form and accompanying evidence.

The UKFPO cannot respond to an applicant’s circumstances if they remain unaware of relevant information.

1) Applicant A was severely unwell with a diagnosed medical condition two days prior to their SJT. This impacted their ability to prepare for and take the test.
2) Applicant B was involved in an accident on the day of their SJT. This prevented them from being able to attend their test.
3) Applicant C had a bereavement of a close family member. This affected their emotional and mental wellbeing.

If you are taken severely and/or suddenly unwell during the SJT, you must decide if you are well enough to continue with the test or whether you wish to end the test.

If you decide to end the test early, you must immediately alert an invigilator (if you are at a test centre), or your online proctor (if taking the test via OnVUE). You should then submit an extenuating circumstances claim form to the UKFPO along with supporting evidence.

If you decide that you are well enough to continue, no additional time will be given. Your test will be marked as normal.

Only the UKFPO can consider a claim for extenuating circumstances. Pearson VUE may open a customer service case for you if any issues arise during your test, but they cannot authorise you to re-sit if your test had already begun.

You must not wait for an outcome of a Pearson VUE customer service case before submitting a claim for extenuating circumstances to the UKFPO.