UKFP 2027 Key Changes

The following changes have been made to the Pre-allocation criteria for UKFP 2027:

1) Pre-allocation under Criterion 1 Parent or Legal Guardian will now only be to the foundation school local to the UK medical school.  
If the applicant has applied via the Eligibility route or has qualified and is being renominated for the application process by their UK medical school, pre-allocation under this category can only be to the to the foundation school area within which the applicant and child(ren) are already living, to reflect the current circumstances.

2) Pre-allocation under Criterion 3 Health Condition or Disability will now only be to the foundation school local to the UK medical school to reflect the current personal circumstances.  If the applicant has applied via the Eligibility route or has qualified and is being renominated for the application process by their UK medical school, pre-allocation under this category can only be to the to the foundation school area within which the applicant is already living, to reflect the current circumstances and  ongoing healthcare treatment that they are already receiving in that same location.

There are no changes to Criterion 2 Primary Carer or Criterion 5 Widening Participation for UKFP 2027. Pre-allocation only to the foundation school local to the medical school was introduced for both criteria for UKFP 2026, and these changes remain in place.

There are no changes to Criterion 4 Extraordinary Circumstances.

The following documentation will no longer be accepted as evidence of proof of address for pre-allocation applications.
 
– TV licences
– Tenancy agreements
– Council tax closing bills/final bills
– GP Patient summary records

The following changes will apply to supporting evidence for the following criterion:
 
Criterion 1 Parental or legal guardian
If an applicant’s current surname and/or first name which they have given on their application form is different from their surname/and or first name on the birth certificate of their child(ren) they will need to also provide proof of name change (e.g. deed poll or marriage certificate) as an additional piece of supporting evidence.
 
All criterion
All supporting signatories used by applicants across all pre-allocation criteria must be based within the UK. Applicants are required to be already living at an address in the UK to be eligible for pre-allocation and their circumstances must be current, therefore the supporting signatory must also be based in the UK if they are supporting the application.

There will not be a separate recruitment process to match applicants to a 2027 Foundation Priority Programme.  As was the case for UKFP 2026, there will again be no separate FPP vacancy on Oriel and therefore no separate offers process for FPP.

FPP programmes will be recruited to as part of the main FP application process. Foundation Priority Programmes will be added into the main FP allocation vacancy on Oriel and applicants will be allocated to these via Preference Informed Allocation (PIA) after allocation to a foundation school has taken place.

This is due to the introduction of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act and the delivery of the application process within the national Oriel application system.

The UKFPO helpdesk ( helpdesk@foundationprogramme.nhs.uk ) will not answer application queries from 24 hours prior to the close of the Foundation Programme application window in October 2026. This includes (but is not limited to) queries which relate to the following list below.

– Oriel registration issues
– Requests for re-nomination (to enable UK graduate to re-apply)
– Application form submission issues 
– Preferencing (of foundation schools) in application
– Errors made in application form
– Pre-allocation related queries
– Reference related queries

The only exception to this is that during this 24-hour period, email requests to unlock Oriel accounts will still be actioned by the team. All other email queries will be responded to after the 24-hour deadline has passed.

This deadline has been imposed due to the increase over the last couple of years in last minute queries sent by applicants to the UKFPO helpdesk. It is not possible for the UKFPO to respond to a large surge of queries and provide the support required in such a short space of time before the application window closes.

The UKFPO and Medical Schools Council strongly recommend that applicants register on Oriel and start their application as early as possible during the 2-week application window, to allow time to contact the UKFPO helpdesk before the 24-hour deadline should there be any issues with their application.  

At the end of the recruitment process for UKFP 2027, the computer-generated rank used during the PIA process in Oriel will be released to all applicants who remain allocated to a foundation school (at the point of release). Ranks will not be released (in bulk) to applicants who were withdrawn at any point after allocation took place, nor to applicants who were not allocated, however these applicants can still request their rank if they wish to by emailing the UKFPO.