diff --git a/api/src/main/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/orchestrator/BaseReturnFilesOrchestrator.java b/api/src/main/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/orchestrator/BaseReturnFilesOrchestrator.java
index 6d2952f0..c3b6198c 100644
--- a/api/src/main/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/orchestrator/BaseReturnFilesOrchestrator.java
+++ b/api/src/main/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/orchestrator/BaseReturnFilesOrchestrator.java
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ protected List<SchoolContact> getStudentRegistrationContactsByMincode(final PenR
       return this.getStudentRegistrationContactService().getStudentRegistrationContactsByMincode(penRequestBatchEntity.getMincode());
     } catch (final NullPointerException e) {
       log.error("Error while trying to get get student registration contact. The student registration contact map is null", e);
-      return null;
+      return Collections.emptyList();
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/api/src/test/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/rest/RestUtilsTest.java b/api/src/test/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/rest/RestUtilsTest.java
index 701c1f7f..30612bd2 100644
--- a/api/src/test/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/rest/RestUtilsTest.java
+++ b/api/src/test/java/ca/bc/gov/educ/penreg/api/rest/RestUtilsTest.java
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ public void testGetStudentRegistrationContacts_shouldReturnData() {
     when(this.responseMock.bodyToFlux(SchoolContactSearchWrapper.class)).thenReturn(Flux.just(createSchoolContactSearchWrapper()));
 
     final var result = this.restUtils.getStudentRegistrationContactList("10200001");
-    assertThat(result.size()).isEqualTo(2);
+    assertThat(result).hasSize(2);
     assertThat(result.get(0).getEmail()).isEqualTo("pen@email.com");
     assertThat(result.get(0).getFirstName()).isEqualTo("Joe");
     assertThat(result.get(1).getEmail()).isEqualTo("2@email.com");