The delivery of thousands of GCSE and A-level results could be affected as workers at exam board AQA prepare for a 72-hour strike.
The walkout was announced by Unison over pay, with the union saying staff are struggling to make ends meet due to consistently below-inflation awards.
Staff, including those involved in organizing the awarding of grades, will walk out for three days from Friday July 29 to Sunday July 31 – with warnings that strike action could escalate unless talks resume.
GCSE students should receive their results on Thursday 25 August, while A-level results will be published on Thursday 18 August.
There are currently four exam boards: AQA, OCR, Pearson and WJEC Edugas.
While results may be mailed to students or accessed via email, most students receive their results in person.
Many of the 180 affected employees say they are struggling after consecutive under-inflation awards. The AQA staff involved in the dispute work in England.
Staff received a 0.6% rise last year, with 3% on offer this year, which Unison says is a real-terms pay cut.
Unison official Lisan Davenport said workers had “no choice” but to strike.
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AQA said the average pay rise would be 5.6%, made up of 3% for all staff, a proportional payment of £500 and a gradual increase for any staff not currently in the highest pay grade.
The board said it was their biggest pay increase in at least several decades, adding that the lowest-earning employees would receive the highest percentage of pay increases.
GCSE and A-level examiners have been asked to be more generous this year, with expanded information released to help students with their assessments.
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The decision to publish details of emerging topics was made to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on education.
Last year, A-Level students achieved more A and A* grades than ever before after A-level, AS-level and GCSE exams were canceled for the second time due to the pandemic.
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