Functional Skills Level 2 Exam Only Cost in 2026/27: What 19 Test Centres and Online Providers Charge

Three facts about Functional Skills exam only fees for 2026/27

• £95 to £250: Published price for one Functional Skills Level 2 exam on its own, 2026/27 (median £125, 19 providers).
• £157.60 vs £119.95: Median remote invigilated exam against median test centre exam; where one provider sells both, remote costs £20 to £70 more.
• £17.50 to £24.60: What Pearson, Open Awards and Highfield charge a centre for a Level 2 maths entry, a fifth or less of the median exam only price.

All prices were read on each provider's or awarding body's own page on 30 October 2026. The survey covers 19 test centres, colleges and online providers in England that sell a Functional Skills Level 2 exam without a course.

What providers charge to sit one Functional Skills Level 2 exam

This is the published price to sit one Level 2 exam on its own, with no course. Where a provider lists both subjects, the table shows maths, because maths is a single exam while English has two or three parts. “Not listed” means the provider does not publish that option.

Taking the cheaper option at each provider, prices run from £95 to £250 and the median is £125. Twelve of the 14 test centre prices fall between £95 and £130. learndirect sells an online maths exam for £379.99, but the price includes an exam preparation course, so it is left out of the range and the medians.

Disclosure: Tutors & Exams is Lift College's exam centre partner. Its fees are shown exactly as it publishes them. Lift College sells Functional Skills courses with the exam included and does not sell the exam on its own, so it is not in the table.

Awarding body fees vs what you pay

The awarding body charges the centre for registering you, marking the exam and issuing the certificate. These are the fees the boards publish for a Level 2 entry.

So the board's share of a typical £125 exam is £17.50 to £24.60. The rest pays for invigilation, the room or the remote proctoring software, booking and administration. City & Guilds and TQUK do not publish a Level 2 figure on their public fee pages, so they are not in this table.

Remote invigilated exam vs a test centre

Across the 14 providers that publish a test centre price, the median is £119.95. Across the 9 that publish a remote price, it is £157.60. Four providers sell the same Level 2 maths exam both ways:

Remote exams cost more because someone has to watch you live or review a recording. Open Awards, for example, charges £48 to provide remote invigilation for a maths exam when the centre does not use its own invigilator. In return, remote exams save travel, and several online providers offer dates every day, while the test centres in the survey ask for two to six weeks' notice.

Functional Skills English often costs more than maths

English Level 2 is assessed in three parts: reading, writing, and speaking, listening and communicating. Many centres charge for each part, and some only run the speaking assessment for groups.

What a Functional Skills resit costs

Most providers charge the full exam price again if you need another go. A few build a resit into the price or discount it, and the awarding bodies charge centres far less for a resit than providers charge you.

If money is tight, a course that includes exam entry and practice papers marked by a tutor can cost less overall than paying for two or three exam only attempts. See how quickly you can fast track Functional Skills Level 2, or whether Functional Skills or a GCSE resit suits you better.

Method and limits

On 30 October 2026 we read the exam only prices that test centres, colleges and online providers publish for a Functional Skills Level 2 exam, and the 2026/27 fee lists from Pearson, Open Awards and NCFE, plus Highfield's current fee page. Each provider row links to its source below.

• Each provider is counted once. One Birmingham centre trades under two websites with the same prices, so it is one row.
• The range and median use the cheaper of each provider's test centre and remote price. Sale prices are shown as published on the day.
• We left out York Learning, whose page is labelled with 2025 to 2026 fees; Riviera Tuition, whose price list is not published as readable text; MME Exams and Pass Learn, whose booking pages show no price until options are chosen; and Excel Tutors, AEC Tutors, 3A Tutors, Ideal Centre and Exam Centre London, which ask you to enquire.
• Three included pages (Excel Exam Centres, Private Exam Centre and North London Education Trust) do not show a year next to the price. We include them as their current published price.
• Prices change, and many online prices are sale prices. Check the provider's own page and which awarding body it uses before you book.

Related guides

• How to fast track Functional Skills Level 2 in 2026
• Functional Skills or a GCSE resit: which should you take?
• Functional Skills Maths Level 2 online course