OFFICIAL UKFP DATA

Foundation School first-preference ratios: 2024–2026

Compare three years of demand across all 18 UK Foundation Schools using figures published by the UK Foundation Programme.

How to read the ratio

The first-preference ratio is the number of applicants who ranked a Foundation School first divided by its number of programmes. A ratio of 1.25, for example, means 125 first-choice applicants for every 100 programmes. A value below 1.00 means there were fewer first-choice applicants than programmes.

The primary-allocation ratio is used for the like-for-like comparison and on the interactive map. Historical figures describe previous allocation rounds; they are not a prediction of future demand or an individual applicant’s likelihood of allocation.

Scroll horizontally to compare all three years.

Foundation School	2026				2025				2024
Foundation School	Places	First choices	Ratio	Adjusted	Places	First choices	Ratio	Adjusted	Places	First choices	Ratio	Adjusted
East of England	921	656	0.71	0.69	898	580	0.65	0.60	802	375	0.47	0.44
Kent, Surrey and Sussex	703	600	0.85	0.84	696	665	0.96	0.95	643	407	0.63	0.62
Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland	330	249	0.75	0.74	317	227	0.72	0.68	278	146	0.53	0.51
London	1,216	2,484	2.04	2.31	1,238	2,200	1.78	2.07	1,080	2,610	2.42	2.89
North West of England	1,081	1,230	1.14	1.16	1,062	1,437	1.35	1.42	1,001	1,354	1.35	1.39
Northern	568	432	0.76	0.74	520	490	0.94	0.94	493	402	0.82	0.80
Northern Ireland	387	304	0.79	0.78	412	349	0.85	0.84	340	223	0.66	0.65
Peninsula	319	280	0.88	0.87	313	271	0.87	0.86	302	197	0.65	0.64
Scotland	1,237	1,340	1.08	1.09	1,109	1,117	1.01	1.01	934	933	1.00	1.00
Severn	421	554	1.32	1.33	405	496	1.22	1.24	397	667	1.68	1.71
Thames Valley (Oxford)	342	440	1.29	1.30	364	596	1.64	1.69	334	474	1.42	1.45
Trent	474	255	0.54	0.51	505	237	0.47	0.43	453	225	0.50	0.47
Wales	460	302	0.66	0.65	463	303	0.65	0.64	485	277	0.57	0.56
Wessex	437	256	0.59	0.58	417	252	0.60	0.58	413	209	0.51	0.49
West Midlands Central	286	398	1.39	1.51	297	330	1.11	1.16	262	354	1.35	1.47
West Midlands North	436	175	0.40	0.39	446	171	0.38	0.35	429	169	0.39	0.37
West Midlands South	294	152	0.52	0.50	294	159	0.54	0.52	278	125	0.45	0.44
Yorkshire and Humber	898	703	0.78	0.76	878	758	0.86	0.84	778	555	0.71	0.68

Source and definitions

The figures are reproduced from the UK Foundation Programme’s 2024–2026 first-preference-ratio publication. For 2026, the comparison uses primary-allocation applicants only. “Adjusted” means the primary-allocation ratio after pre-allocation and manual matching.

Open the official UKFP 2024–2026 PDF

Data checked 1 October 2026.