My Department's policy on special arrangements is to ensure that all candidates are given the opportunity to demonstrate their full level of attainment and at the same time ensuring that no unfair advantage is given. The operation of the scheme is regularly reviewed to ensure it is effective in meeting those objectives.
Traditionally in the case of candidates with a specific learning difficulty and where a concern has been expressed regarding the readability of material, this has been brought to the attention of the individual examiner. However, in the event of the examiner encountering difficulty in reading the script the examiner is instructed to send the answerbook to his or her supervising examiner. This is to ensure that, notwithstanding any presentational or readability difficulties, every effort is made by the examiner or supervising examiner to ensure that the candidate is given full credit for all work done.
This year my Department has moved to strengthen this arrangement by instructing all examiners who have a difficulty in assessing the information given by a candidate to refer the script to their supervising examiner. The intention is to ensure that problems with readability, regardless of whether they are brought to the attention of the Department, are dealt with by the examiner and that no candidate is disadvantaged.