In regards specifically to IELTS, from the table of
approved providers (click) you can see that the lowest level of IELTS accepted by the UKBA as an approved test is level 4.0. An applicant wishing to rely on an IELTS qualification must therefore have to provide evidence that they have obtained this qualification and have passed the speaking and listening components at level 4.0 or above.
Even if a person is required to sit all four components of an IELTS test, that person would meet the English language requirement by gaining a score of a minimum of level 4.0 in speaking and listening only, even if they failed the reading and writing components (by scoring less than 4.0) and overall their final score was less than 4.0.
I.e:
Reading – 1.5
Writing – 1.5
Speaking - 4.0
Listening – 4.0
In the above case, the exam taker is able to demonstrate they scored level 4 for speaking and listening in an approved test by an approved provider, thus, the applicant could use such result to meet the English qualification for B1 (and A1).
