IT problems at the National Qualification in Journalism held at Harlow College

14 March: All 10 candidates affected by IT problems at the NQJ held at Harlow College on 7 March completed another Media Law and Practice exam on the morning of 14 March 2014. Results for all trainees who sat the senior exams in March will be sent to candidates and their editors on Tuesday, 15 April.

11 March: The NCTJ is taking this issue extremely seriously, and although we are continuing to address the situation with the college in the hope of retrieving 10 Media Law and Practice exam scripts lost from computer desktops, so far this has not been successful.

We have made contingency arrangements which will involve the option of a resit of a new exam paper for the ten candidates affected by the loss. The exam can be sat in newspaper offices or at the NCTJ and the NCTJ will pay expenses.

For those candidates who prefer not to re-sit under the circumstances, a certificate can be issued for the other three sections if they are passed.

Senior examiners of all three NQJ exams are aware of the circumstances at Harlow College and special consideration will be applied at moderation. The NCTJ will also offer the candidates affected a free re-sit of the Media Law and Practice exam in July 2014 should they require it.

The NCTJ apologises unreservedly to trainees and editors for the distress caused by this situation.

Our investigation into what went wrong is continuing and our findings will be summarised in the examiners' report to be published in April.