Ahead of the confirmation and clearing period in the 2026 admissions cycle, the Office for Students (OfS) highlights its support of sector guidance on the use of unconditional conditional offer making.
OfS Director of Regulation, Philippa Pickford, said:
‘Students across the country are getting ready to make important decisions about their next steps into higher education. As universities and colleges prepare for the confirmation and clearing period, we’d like to highlight our support for the principles in the UUK/GuildHE Fair Admissions Code of Practice around unconditional offer making.
‘While institutions have autonomy in setting their approach to admissions, we support the view expressed in the code that ‘conditional unconditional offers’ – the practice whereby providers make prospective students unconditional offers on the condition they accept that institution as a first choice – puts undue pressure on students and risks distorting their decision-making about where is best for them to study.
‘We encourage institutions to consider the principles in this guidance around the use of these offers as we approach the confirmation and clearing period.’