We asked you what we could do to help with financial planning and many people said they would like us to give earlier warning on fee changes.

With this in mind, we're pleased to be able to give you an indication of fees for our new A Levels, starting from 1 September 2008, when most – though not all – A levels will move to a four-unit structure, rather than six.

No action is required, this is advance notice to facilitate business planning for 2008/2009 – for current fees, please view the fees list page on our website

Although a lot of our costs of running A levels will remain at the same level as before - and in some cases even increase (for example, some exam papers will be longer to compensate for covering similar content in fewer examinations) – we've been able to make some savings, and we want to pass these on to you. As a result, the new 4-unit A Levels will cost 13% less than a 6-unit A Level.

We will be applying a general increase to all our A levels for next year to deal with the impact of inflation. Inflation has been variable in recent months, but we anticipate a figure of around 3%.

Assuming that inflation remains around this level, fees for the next two years will be as follows:

Revised A Level pricing (4-unit A levels)

AS Level	Total Cost of AS Qualification	Units	AS Unit Price
2007/08	£37.35	3	£12.45
2008/09 (new)	£33.60	2	£16.80
2009/10 (new)	£34.60	2	£17.30

Full A Level	Total Cost of A Level Qualification	Units	A2 Unit Price
2007/08	£74.70	6	£12.45
2008/09 (new)	£76.80	6	£12.80
2009/10 (new)	£69.20	4	£17.30

(Note: The fees for A Levels which are staying in the 6-unit structure will only be adjusted for the general inflation change).

We will be keeping inflation under review during the year and will make our final announcement of fees for 2008-9 no later than the end of May 2008.

As a not-for-profit organisation, and despite our intensive investment in modernisation and new qualifications, we are committed to keeping fees down as much as possible.

We were the first awarding body to publish draft specifications for the new A Levels, and now, by confirming our prices a year in advance, we hope we are doing our bit to help you plan ahead at a time of many changes.