Sometimes when we use reported speech, the things that we are reporting are still true and haven’t changed or happened yet. We can express this by keeping the original verbs the same:

Daniel: “I’m going to Scotland at the weekend”.
Daniel said that he’s going to Scotland at the weekend.

Carmen: “I’m looking for a new job”.
Carmen said that she is looking for a new job.

“I will wait outside the school at 8:00,” said Stuart.
Stuart said that he will wait outside the school at 8:00.

In these examples, the tenses stay the same in both sentences. This is because the situation is still true or hasn’t changed yet.

When we report in this way it’s possible to use the reporting verb in the present (e.g. says):

✓ Stuart says that he will be outside the school at 8:00.
✓ Stuart said that he will be outside the school at 8:00.

If the reporting verb is in the present (e.g. says), we always have to report the verbs in the same tenses as direct speech sentence:

Carmen: “I’m looking for a new job”.
✓ Carmen said that she was/is looking for a new job.
✓ Carmen says that she is looking for a new job.
x Carmen says that she was looking for a new job.