English test scandal: reprieve plan was derailed by government reshuffle

Sajid Javid had wanted review process for international students who believed their visas had been wrongly cancelled

• ‘It destroyed my life’: the students accused of cheating in English tests
• What is the Home Office English test scandal?

Ministers were poised five years ago to offer a route to a reprieve for thousands of international students who may have been wrongly accused of cheating, but the plan was derailed by a government reshuffle, the Guardian has learned.

The former home secretary Sajid Javid had asked officials to devise a system whereby students who believed their visas had been cancelled in error as a result of unfair cheating allegations could request a one-stop internal review of their case, sources have revealed.