Unless specified on the roadmap itself, student facing features launch in May of the relevant cycle when it opens, and new data will be available to providers in September of the same cycle when ‘pay & send’ opens. E.g. Residency, Nationality, Address data improvements will launch for students completing the 2025 application in May 2025 and the data will be available to providers in September 2025.
You can view the roadmap here.
We originally planned to deliver a new ‘extenuating circumstances’ field for students to share details of extenuating circumstances that have impacted their education and/or attainment, with their choices for the 2025 admissions cycle.
Following extensive consultation across our provider and adviser audiences, we have made the decision to instead deliver it for the 2026 cycle alongside the changes planned for Personal Statement Reform. The justification being that this will allow us as a sector to fully analyse how the Reference Reform changes in relation to extenuating circumstances (introduced for the 2024 cycle) have been used, and how providers have utilised the information, helping inform what the future of the self-declared ‘extenuating circumstances’ should look like for students.