The UCAS Fair Access Programme was launched in October 2021 to build on our existing work to support widening access and participation, and to add further value to the work already underway across the sector.
The Fair Access Programme aims to:
These objectives were shaped by the views of over 100 stakeholders across the UK through a national consultation to understand where UCAS could best support the sector – including universities, colleges, schools, charitable organisations, and outreach providers.
Although the consultation has ended, the conversation continues: we are always keen to hear ideas – big and small – about how UCAS can help to support widening access and participation. Please share your thoughts with us at access@ucas.ac.uk.
As an independent charity, UCAS has an important role to play in supporting the most disadvantaged applicants to access higher education. The entry rate to higher education of applicants receiving free school meals is at its lowest level since 2019. Our aim is to open more doors to accessing higher education for disadvantaged students.
Register for our Access Newsletter if you’d like to hear more about the work UCAS is doing to support widening access and participation – including upcoming events, the latest data and insights, and new resources.
| 19 – 20 May 2025 | UCAS Conference: Access All Areas, Windsor More information and a booking link will follow shortly – watch this space. |
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| 5 June 2025 | UCAS Train the Trainer – supporting care experienced students through the UCAS process, online This free event will provide a back-to-basics introduction to the UCAS process, how to use the UCAS Hub, and the tools and resources that students can use to help with their decision-making. There will be opportunities to ask questions throughout and engage with the resources yourselves. This session is aimed at colleagues working in local authority leaving care teams, personal advisers, virtual schools, foster carers, and organisations supporting foster carers. This date is fully booked but spaces may become available – please email access@ucas.ac.uk to be added to the waiting list. |
The Next Steps series offers a snapshot of UCAS applicants who are about to take their next steps, combining survey data and UCAS application data to explore:
To date, these reports have covered the experiences of: care-experienced students, disabled students, LGBT+ students, and nursing applicants. We also have a report looking at student mental health.
The Where Next? series also brings together UCAS data with student surveys to understand students’ pathways through HE and apprenticeships, exploring:
These snapshots will highlight key data and information about underrepresented groups in higher education.
Contextual information and data can be used by universities and colleges to assess an applicant’s achievement and potential in light of their educational and socio-economic background. The aim is to form a more complete picture of an individual applicant’s characteristics.
To support contextualised admissions, we currently offer two contextual data services for providers:
In addition to standard personal details and qualifications information in the UCAS application, UCAS also gives applicants the opportunity to share additional information about their circumstances, including whether they:
This data is self-declared and unverified. We ask these questions to allow applicants to provide greater contextual information to providers and identify those who may require additional support.
View provider good practice briefings for WP questions
The multiple equality measure (MEM) is UCAS' principal measure of equality.
It brings together information on several equality dimensions for which large differences in the probability of progression into higher education exist, including: sex, ethnic group, where people live (using the POLAR3 and IMD classifications), secondary education school type, and income background (as measured by whether a person was in receipt of free school meals (FSM), a means-tested benefit while at school).
Formerly known as STROBE, the UCAS Outreach Evaluator provides robust statistical evidence on the impacts of outreach and engagement activities for higher education providers and charitable organisations.
This tool provides organisations with anonymised information on a cohort of individuals who’ve interacted with a particular programme or intervention to evidence the number achieving a specific outcome. This also allows performance to be benchmarked against the national average, an appropriate control group, and, for universities, your competition.
UCAS’ Outreach Connection Service is for providers and third-party providers to showcase their opportunities and be the go-to, single source of truth place for UK teachers and advisers, offering an efficient and timesaving online tool for them to support disadvantaged and underrepresented students to higher education.
Outreach providers can register to join here
Advisers have access through the adviser portal.
UCAS aims to be fully inclusive of the broad range of applicants who use our products and services, and the applicant experience is important to us. To continue providing support for all applicants we have a range of information available to help guide those with individual needs, developed in partnership with a range of expert organisations.
Explore our content for disadvantaged and under-represented groups
Universities recognise additional challenges some students face, and can make adjustments through ‘contextual admissions’.
Our toolkits for teachers and advisers offer practical advice and resources for each step of the journey to higher education. Developed in collaboration with expert organisations, there is a dedicated toolkit to help advisers support students with individual and specific needs, as well as a range of resources to support the application journey more broadly.
Adviser toolkit: Supporting students with individual needs
Access the full range of toolkits for supporting applications
If you're helping a student with individual needs, but are unfamiliar with the UCAS process, our step-by-step-guides give you all the details you need to help you from start to finish.
To help universities and colleges with their admissions processes, UCAS provides a range of supportive resources offering good practice guidance and other materials. This includes good practice briefings to support under-represented and disadvantaged groups, and admissions processes more generally.
Good practice briefings to support under-represented and disadvantaged groups
Access the full range of good practice resources
UCAS’ responses to sector consultations aim to represent the best interests of our customer groups, and align with the core principles and values we outline in our corporate strategy, Discover your future – including widening access and participation.
We have a range of digital training options, all of which you can complete at a time to suit you. Our professional development platform gives you access to a series of free short digital training courses, you'll find learning opportunities relevant to your engagement with UCAS.
If you have any thoughts on how UCAS can support widening access and participation across higher education and apprenticeships, please get in touch. We’re also happy to answer any questions you may have about the Fair Access Programme and products and services that support widening access and participation.
Email us at access@ucas.ac.uk