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Newcomer Injunction

AQA Education has obtained an injunction preventing interference with public examinations. This notice is to alert you to the injunction, so that you are aware of it and can make submissions about it if you wish to do so.

Historically, AQA Education has encountered limited instances of attempts made by persons unknown to access examination papers in advance of examinations being sat. Occasionally, these attempts have been successful. AQA Education’s position is that this is unlawful.

To prevent future wrongdoing, AQA Education applied to the High Court of England and Wales for an injunction which prohibits anyone in the United Kingdom from attempting to obtain, transfer, publish or sell examination papers or associated materials (for example, resource or answer booklets). The hearing of AQA's application was held on 11 October 2024 and the injunction was subsequently granted by the High Court.

The prohibition also applies where persons unknown purport to sell examination papers but where those persons do not have the genuine examination papers that they claim to have.

The injunction is now in force until the "Review Date" hearing, which has been listed in a three-day window from the 27 April 2026. We have applied for a continuation of the injunction, to be considered at the Review Date hearing, and the application documents (application notice and supporting evidence) can be provided on request by emailing AQAInjunction@fieldfisher.com.

As there will be an allocated day for judicial pre-reading, the Review Date hearing could take place on 27, 28, 29 or 30 April. Further information concerning the listing of the Review Date hearing can be found on the Justice.gov website at approximately 2pm on the previous working day. A Court Order concerning the hearing of AQA's application can be found here (123.45 KB).

Any further updates concerning the Review Date Hearing will be published here.

A breach of the injunction will constitute a contempt of court and may be punished by a fine, imprisonment, confiscation of assets or other punishment under the law.

The Court Order (which sets out the terms of the injunction) can be accessed here.