The 35 lost papers were for the CII’s Integrated Financial Planning (CF5) examination taken on 11 April.
The CII said in an email to one of those who had sat the exam that its appointed courier, Yodel (formerly DHL), had mislaid the examination scripts.
As a consequence of the loss, those who took the exam will have to re-sit the test and the CII has offered candidates the chance to do this on the 25 May, “at no charge”. The CII has also said it will refund the exam fees for the lost papers.
One of the candidates, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “The CII told me the night before my exam results were due out that they had lost my papers, I was obviously devastated. The only compensation that we get is a free exam to sit on the 25 of May and a complimentary revision course, both of which require days off your holiday allowance if your employer doesn’t give them to you.
“They seem adamant to blame DHL, the couriers, but no one has had any set in stone answers back. It’s a complete shambles and I feel that I have been robbed of moving on with my career.”
CII spokesman David Ross said, while the CII is still hopeful the papers “will turn up”, the organisation felt it best to offer candidates the opportunity to re-sit exams as soon as possible.
“This is genuinely an unprecedented situation for us and we are clearly very sorry,” said Ross. “While we do hope that the exam papers will turn up, we clearly cannot wait indefinitely on the chance that they do so which is why we have offered people the opportunity to sit them again as soon as possible.”
