Please note: This is the policy for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training, you can find the IELTS for UKVI transfer and cancellation policy here.
Please visit our Take IELTS site for the IELTS Online cancellation policy.
To transfer or reschedule your test date
You may change your test date:
- five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – free of charge
- less than five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – an administration fee of PHP 1000 will be charged*
- less than three days before the scheduled test date (first component) – no transfers can be arranged, except in the exceptional circumstances stated below.
The transfer or rescheduled test date must be within three months of the original test date. If you are unable to attend on the transfer test date, neither a further transfer nor a refund can be given.
You can submit your test date transfer request through this link. We will review your request and process it by following the Transfer Policies of the exams of which you registered.
Cancelling your IELTS test: IELTS refund policy
For British Council IELTS exam cancellation: 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.
Please note that in line with the British Council IELTS refund policy, refunds can take four to six weeks to process.
No refunds will be allowed for IELTS within five weeks of the test date. Exemptions from this policy are:
- serious medical conditions which prevent you from attending or performing normally on test day; as verified by a medical certificate from a qualified medical practitioner** (does not include minor illness such as a mild cold)
- bereavement - loss of a close family member
- hardship/trauma – victim of crime, victim of a traffic accident
- other forms of significant hardship
- compulsory military service
To transfer or cancel your 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.
If a medical certificate confirming illness on the date of the test is provided within five working days of the test date, together with the submitted cancellation request on the Test Taker Portal, the fee is refundable, minus an administration fee of 25% of the test fee.
Only medical certificates in English are accepted. If we have not received your submitted cancellation request along with an upload of supporting documentation evidence on the Test Taker Portal by the fifth working day after the test, you will be marked as absent and forfeit all claims.
Please note that we do not accept sick notes issued by family members.
If your test centre does not approve your exception request, then the standard transfer and refund policies, detailed above, will apply.
Test centre exceptions
Under certain circumstances outside test centre control, we may have to cancel your test. These circumstances include, but are not limited to, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster, civil unrest and industrial action technical problems, issues at the venue or other types of disruption or disturbance in the local environment. In these circumstances, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of either below.
The British Council is not liable for any losses you incur as a result of test cancellation.
- A full refund*, or;
- A transfer to a future test date.
* An additional bank transfer fee may be deducted by your bank.
** Only copies of medical certificates from a certified medical professional can be accepted. Please keep the original document with you as we may require it for further verification.