The RSGB has announced that the amateur radio exam fees will increase from April 2023.
In a statement released by the RSGB on the 16th of December: “The RSGB Board has reviewed the amateur radio licence exam fees and has decided that there needs to be an increase from 1 April 2023. This is the first time in over ten years that the exam fees have risen and the new fees are still well below the cumulative rate of inflation since 2011.”
| Current Fee | New Fee | Increase | Exam Duration | Exam Questions | |
| Foundation | £27.50 | £32.50 | 18% | 1 hour | 26 |
| Intermediate | £32.50 | £36 | 11% | 1½ hours | 46 |
| Full | £37.50 | £42 | 12% | 2 hours | 58 |
| Direct-to-Full | N/A | £95 | N/A | 2½ hours | 75 |
The new fees, in the table above, will come into effect for exams taken after the 1st of April 2023.
Direct to Full Exam Update
The RSGB has also released pricing details for Direct-to-Full.
It will be possible to make an exam booking from the 11th of January 2023, with the first exam slot being on Saturday the 21st of January 2023. As per the table above, the exam will last for 2 and ½ hours, and the exam fee will be £95.
For more information, see Direct to Full Exam
Got any comments on the changes? Please add them as a comment below.
If my memory serves, I paid around 25 shillings (£1-25 ) for the full examination in the early 1960s. So to account for inflation multiply by about 100. I suppose we ought to include the morse test and the cost of the License (£2). in those days.
However, the foundation exam is simpler and we ought to keep the cost down.
73 Gerald g3sdy. (RAE tutor since 1975 Diploma in Assessment (Leeds) T.Cert (Oxford) )
I seem to be alone in recognising that for NEW FOUNDATION candidates there is NO INCREASE. The fee they pay is the fee they pay. They have not paid any fee previously, so how can the fee they pay for the first time be an increase. A commercial decision to keep the Foundation cost low to attract people to the hobby is possibly valid, but the exam fee is insignificant when considered in the light of the equipment they will need to buy in order to operate. I am surprised that there is no difference in cost to the candidate between the on-line and paper versions of the examinations. Neither the duration of the examination, nor the number of items, should affect the cost of the examination. I don’t therefore understand the £10 difference between Intermediate and Full.
Hi Richard. The Foundation exam fee has been increased by £5, so from 1st April, it will be £5 more expensive than it is now. Yes, there is the argument that “the price is what it is”, but there are lots of people currently struggling with increased cost of living, energy prices increasing, food and fuel bills increasing. Similarly, buying anything for the first time (house, car, etc) can be a struggle if money is tight and/or wages aren’t rising in line with other price rises.
I do not like the fact that the Foundation exam has risen ..I am a trainer with a charity Cadet Force, some time ago had 10 children on a Hamtrain course , but as I could not secure exam funding for the exam it was never completed. I have tried to get RSGB to help but to no avail… so it is making youngsters difficult to come into the hobby. The last 100 Cadets passed , paid nothing to £5… (some time ago)