Anyone want £680,000,000 to run English tests for the UK?

Right now, if you’re applying for a UK visa or settling there, you take a Secure English Language Test (SELT) from one of several providers like Trinity, IELTS, Pearson, etc. The system is currently run by a network of providers with differing standards, physical test centers, and this makes it hard to create a single standard.

The UK Home Office is about to change all that by moving to HOELT (Home Office English Language Test), a fully remote, digital-first English test platform covering levels A1 to C2. They want it to be scalable, secure, and flexible enough to handle changes in immigration rules, global events, or sudden spikes in demand. To develop this, the Home Office is contracting out the development to a supplier and following the standard government contract process.

The Home Office ran five rounds of RFIs between 2024 and 2025. The idea was to see what the market could deliver, explore technology options like remote proctoring, and get feedback on draft requirements. Suppliers responded with their capabilities or ideas about what is realistic (would love to see some of these responses btw), leading to publication of the official tender on Friday of this week.

The HOELT contract is huge. It is worth £680 million excluding VAT, £816 million including VAT, for an initial five years, with the option to extend to eight years. The tender will score suppliers based on quality (60 percent) and price (40 percent), with minimum thresholds for key requirements.

Submissions for the tender are due in January 2026 and technical demonstrations happen in May 2026. The Home Office plans to announce the winner in November 2026 after an eight-day standstill period. Implementation starts in December 2026.

I know one of you reading this can step up and make it happen captain.

Jokes aside, this is a major vote of confidence for test providers who have leaned into remote options recently, and a company that's already based in the UK and already an approved vendor like LanguageCert I think is very strongly positioned to win this.