UCAS launched a consultation in February 2026 setting out proposed changes to the operation of the undergraduate admissions cycle, focusing on dates, deadlines, and the structure of applicant choices. This followed a series of pre-consultation activities during the latter half of 2025 to explore these areas further.
Key areas covered in the consultation include:
- the number of initial choices a student can make
- the firm and insurance choice
- application deadlines, including the early (October) deadline and January Equal Consideration Date.
The consultation ran from 12 February 2026 to 22 April 2026.
Our response
IHE welcomes the overall direction of travel, while urging UCAS to adopt a more student‑centred and future‑focused approach to reform.
Our response expresses broad support for retaining five initial choices, the firm and insurance choice, and for bringing stability to key dates in the cycle. We also welcome efficiency proposals such as greater transparency through measures such as traffic light course indicators and improved decision making data. However, we highlight the risk that changes focused too narrowly on efficiency or early certainty could disadvantage applicants with non‑traditional decision making journeys - including mature and international students, and those exploring flexible or modular provision.
We emphasise that many students make decisions later in the cycle, often only after engaging in interviews, auditions, assessment centres, or other contextual admissions processes. IHE therefore argues that flexibility, discovery, and recovery routes are therefore essential to equitable participation, and cautions against reforms that reduce choices or introduce earlier decision points that may unintentionally narrow opportunity or amplify inequality.
IHE also calls on UCAS to consider more explicitly at who is not currently applying through UCAS, particularly in the context of demographic change and the forthcoming Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). With the population of 18‑year‑olds declining and participation by mature and flexible learners expected to grow, it is vital that future system design supports a wider range of learner journeys rather than serving an increasingly narrow applicant profile.
IHE looks forward to continued, constructive engagement with UCAS and encourages future reform to be shaped through representative dialogue that reflects the full diversity of students, providers, and pathways in UK higher education.
Read our full response using the download link below.