Plans for an £816 million system to test the English skills of UK visa applicants have stalled, with the Home Office pushing procurement back at least five months after repeated consultations with suppliers.

The department responsible for immigration started talking to the market about the system - destined to be used in hundreds of test centers around the world - during August last year. At the time, it said the competition for the contract would start April 7, 2025.

However, earlier this week, it published another request for information from suppliers, its fifth on the project, which said UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), a unit of the Home Office, was reviewing options for the future procurement of a Home Office English Language Test (HOELT) to be delivered in the UK and international

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