Non-urgent advice: Important
Applicants must ensure that all supporting evidence required for their pre-allocation application is provided at the time of application as there will be no opportunity to provide this later or via an appeal process if their application is rejected.
Applicants should check their application thoroughly before submitting it on Oriel. All the information provided on the application form must be correct with all the relevant boxes ticked and supporting information and signatures included.
Completion of the application form
Applicants must download and compete the relevant application form for the criterion they wish to apply under.
All pre-allocation applications must be completed and uploaded with the relevant supporting evidence onto Oriel before submitting the main FP application by the national application deadline which can be found in the application timeline.
Applicants should refer to the How to Apply on Oriel guide for support with completing their FP application on Oriel. Within the “Supporting Information” section of the main application form, applicants are given the option to apply for pre-allocation.
Applicants must upload their pre-allocation application form and supporting evidence to their FP application in Oriel. Failure to do so will result in a pre-allocation application being rejected. Refer to the Supporting Information page of the How to apply section on the UKFPO website.
Incomplete or incorrect applications
Incomplete and/or incorrect applications will be rejected from the process.
Applicants must ensure that they have selected the correct criterion for their circumstances when submitting their application on Oriel, as there will be no opportunity to correct this via an appeal process if their application is rejected.
All applicants must adhere to the rules and deadlines of the national application process.
Documents emailed to the UKFPO will not be considered.
Uploading the application form and supporting evidence to Oriel
Applicants must upload their fully completed application form and all requested supporting evidence to their Oriel FP application within the “Supporting information” section.
The pre-allocation application form, supporting evidence, and proof of address must be uploaded to the Oriel system separately. Within each section, only one document can be uploaded, and this must be a maximum of 10MB in size. Applicants should therefore prepare their forms and supporting evidence into separate document files that can be uploaded into each of the sections.
Completed pre-allocation form – upload maximum of 1 document (10MB)
Supporting evidence – upload maximum of 1 document (10MB)
Proof of address – upload maximum of 1 document (10BM)
Optional checklist – the checklist does not need to be included with the application, and does not need to be uploaded onto Oriel because it is not a mandatory part of the application process. However, if an applicant chooses to include it, this is fine.
Depending on which criterion an applicant is applying under, not all 3 of the separate document upload sections will be used. For example, an applicant applying under Criterion 5 Widening Participation is only required to upload 2 x documents: their completed pre-allocation application form and proof of address.
Applicants must only use the original Microsoft Word version of the 2026 pre-allocation application form when completing and submitting their application, however the document and supporting evidence can be saved and uploaded onto Oriel in any of the following file types:
doc, docx, pdf, jpeg, jpg, ppt, pptx.
Other file types must not be used because they cannot be opened by the UKFPO national review panel. Applicants should note that if any of their documents cannot be opened and reviewed by the pre-allocation review panel, this may mean that their application will be unsuccessful.
Applicants must not take photos or scans of their completed pre-allocation form and paste these into a different document which they then submit on Oriel.