Labour lord and former Blairite minister Chris Smith has warned that a new test for migrants could be easy to cheat and ‘game’ the system.
The Home Office is proposing a new online test for English language proficiency – which would be impossible to invigilate and would make it easy for an applicant to look the answers up on another device.
Although cheaper, the proposal has been strongly criticised by Lord Smith, who argues it would tear up the trusted system in place for years of in-person examinations.
The Chancellor of the University of Cambridge said of the new proposals: ‘Visa applicants would sit the test wherever they chose, using their own device.’
The peer added: ‘This would be cheaper to administer, but it would be infinitely less reliable.
‘If you are doing an online test or interview, you can – these days – prop a mobile phone up against the screen, invisible to the assessor, and it will provide you with all the answers.
‘You can share your screen with someone who will tell you what to say. You can use an earpiece that will perform a similar function. You can exploit “blind spots” where a camera can’t reach.
‘You can even claim an internet disruption that closes the session down and gives you a second run at the test. There are a multitude of ways to “game” the system when it is done entirely online. AI-enabled cheating is a mounting challenge. Have ministers really thought this through?’
Lord Chris Smith served as the first Culture Secretary in Tony Blair’s 1997 Labour Government and was elected Chancellor of Cambridge University last year
The Home Office is proposing an online test of English proficiency for visa applicants, which could come into force in December
The Home Office’s current system in place relies on five providers of English language tests who assess the language ability for visa applicants.
These providers include the trusted Cambridge University Press and Assessment, who are in association with the British Council.
But the Home Office announced an overhaul in 2024 when they launched their intentions to set up their own Home Office English Language Test (HOELT).
The HOELT would be awarded to a single provider and would rely on a remote online test.
The Home Office plans include a five-year contract of £816million for companies to run English language tests for thousands of UK visa applicants. The tests could be implemented as early as December.
English proficiency requirements for migrant workers were raised in January from GCSE-equivalent to A-level equivalent.
The same increase will be introduced next March for foreign nationals applying for ‘indefinite leave to remain’ in this country, which most are currently eligible to do after living here for five years.
While other institutions are moving back to in-person examinations and interviews, including many Oxbridge colleges for university applicants, Lord Smith criticised the Labour government’s proposal to move online instead, in a column for the Telegraph.
Lord Smith was the first Culture Secretary in Tony Blair’s 1997 Labour Government then went on to become Master of Pembroke College and was elected as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge last year.
The Daily Mail has contacted the Home Office for comment.
A Home Office spokesperson previously said in March: ‘Migrants now must speak English to a higher standard if they wish to stay permanently in the UK, as part of the biggest legal migration reforms in a generation.
‘Secure English language testing is a fundamental part of the UK’s immigration system.
‘We are still in the process of securing a test provider who will meet the highest thresholds of data security and fraud prevention.’
