Fewer schools had their Sats results amended or annulled in 2016 than in the previous year, a new report reveals.

There were 65 schools that had at least one pupil’s key stage 2 results amended or annulled in 2016, including five schools that had an entire year group’s results quashed in at least one subject, a maladministration report from the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) states. The figure also includes 12 schools which had notified the STA that a pupil had cheated.

The number is a drop from 2015, when 85 schools which had KS2 results amended or annulled.

At key stage 1, there were two schools which had phonics screening checks results annulled. There were no schools whose key stage 1 Sats were amended or annulled.

The report reveals that there were 524 investigations into maladministration in 2016 - a slight rise from 516 in 2015.

Maladministration refers to any act that could “jeopardise the integrity, security or confidentiality” of the Sats or phonics check.

It includes: test papers being incorrectly opened, pupils cheating, over-aiding of pupils by test administrators, changes being made to a pupil’s test script by someone other than the pupil or inflation/deflation of teacher assessment judgements.

The largest number of allegations at both KS1 and KS2 were about teachers “over-aiding pupils” during the tests.

Almost half of the sources of maladministration cases were from schools self-reporting.