Foundation Priority Programmes

Non-urgent advice: Important update about 2026 Foundation Priority Programmes (FPP)

The separate recruitment process for 2026 Foundation Priority Programmes will no longer take place.  This is due to the timing of the introduction of the proposed Medical Training (Prioritisation) Bill which has just been announced.  

This means that the FPP offers which were due on 21,26,28 January 2026 and 02 February 2026 will not take place.

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

FPP guidance will remain on the website for information only. Any FPP specific recruitment processes and deadlines no longer apply for 2026.

In this section of the application form you are required to indicate whether you would also like to apply for Foundation Priority Programmes (FPP). If you indicate “Yes”, you will need to select the FPP vacancy from the drop-down list. There will only be one FPP vacancy listed for selection. If you select “No”, no further information is required from you in this section.

Applicants are not required to attend an interview or selection process for Foundation Priority Programmes.

Information about FPP programmes offered by each foundation school are available on local foundation school websites. Further information can be found on the FPP webpage.

If you choose to apply for FPP you will be required to rank individual programmes in your order of preference after you have submitted your main FP application form.

Refer to the application timeline on the UKFPO website for the programme preferencing deadlines for FPP and ideally preference programmes for FPP as soon as possible after submitting your application to make sure you don’t forget.

1) Select the “Preferences” tab from within your dashboard in Oriel. You will see two applications – your main FP application, and your FPP application.

2) Select “Update preferences”. You will then be able to preference the FPP programmes in your order of choice using the drag and drop process.  

3) You are not required to preference all available FPP programmes. You should only preference programmes you would like to be considered for.

4) You must select the save button every time you wish to save your preferences and changes. The system will not autosave your preferences. The “save” button can be found in the top right hand corner of the screen.

5) You can edit your FPP programme preferences on Oriel as many times as you like, up until the preferencing deadline which can be found in the application timeline.

Do not attempt to rank preferences using a mobile phone/smartphone, as Oriel has not been designed to work on these devices.

Prior to FPP offers taking place, the applicant dashboard for your FPP application will show that you have reached “interview” stage, even though interviews aren’t used for FPP programmes. This is due to the standard way in which the Oriel system processes applications and should be ignored for FPP. After the FPP offers process is complete, if you haven’t received an offer you will still see that your application is at “interview”. This should also be ignored.

There are four FPP offer rounds in total. Refer to the application timeline for all FPP offer dates.

When a round of offers is released, you will be able to view the result of your application in Oriel. If you receive an offer, you will also receive a confirmation email. The result of your application will be one of the following:

1) Offer: Oriel notification of an offer of a FPP programme (no upgrades will be offered).

2) Unmatched: Oriel notification that you are unmatched and have not received an offer.

3) Unsuccessful: Applicants who don’t receive an offer will not receive an Oriel notification email which confirms this.

Offers in rounds 2 – 4 will only be made to applicants who have not previously received an offer in round 1 and have positively ranked a programme which remains vacant.  

You must accept or decline an offer in Oriel within 48 hours. If you do not respond within the deadline, the offer will automatically expire.

If you accept an offer, you will automatically be withdrawn from the main FP allocation process. 

If you do not receive an offer or you decline the offer you receive, you will be automatically included in the main FP allocation process. Declined or expired FPP offers will have no bearing on your allocation to a foundation school via PIA nor on your computer-generated rank.

Successful applicants will receive one FPP offer only. If the offer is declined or expires, the applicant will not receive any further FPP offers. The applicant will then automatically move forward into the main FP allocation process.

Any unfilled FPP places will be included in the national allocation process for FP. The incentives offered as part of FPP may not be transferred across into the FP allocation process. This will depend on the local foundation school and is not guaranteed.

Pre-allocation does not apply to the Foundation Priority Programme. It only applies to the main Foundation Programme.

You are permitted to apply for pre-allocation for the main Foundation Programme and apply for the Foundation Priority Programme (FPP) if you wish to.

If you choose to apply for pre-allocation and you accept an FPP offer, you will automatically be removed from the main Foundation Programme allocation process. Your pre-allocation application will no longer be required.

If your FPP application is not successful and you don’t receive an offer, you will be automatically included in the main Foundation Programme allocation process. If your pre-allocation application was approved, this will still carry forward and you will be pre-allocated to the requested foundation school.

Linking does not apply to the Foundation Priority Programme. It only applies to the main Foundation Programme.

You can link your application to another applicant for the main Foundation Programme if you wish to and also apply for FPP.

If you choose to apply for Foundation Priority Programmes and you accept an FPP offer, you will automatically be removed from the main Foundation Programme allocation process and the link with the other applicant will be broken, as this was for the main Foundation Programme and is therefore no longer required.

During the application period (and before FPP offers take place), if you decide that you no longer want to apply for FPP programmes, you can withdraw your FPP application yourself on Oriel, by the national deadline. The deadline to do so can be found within the application timeline.

Withdrawing your FPP application (prior to accepting an offer) will not affect or withdraw your main FP application. This will have no bearing on your allocation to a foundation school via PIA nor on your computer-generated rank.

If you choose to withdraw your application once you have accepted an FPP offer, you will be withdrawn from the entire Foundation Programme application process, including FP.

If you withdraw after accepting an FPP offer, you will not be able to re-enter the current application round, and will need to re-apply to the Foundation Programme the following year.

1) Navigate to the “Applications” tab in your dashboard, and then select the FPP application.

2) Navigate to the “Application Options” drop down list in the right-hand corner.

3) Select “Withdraw application”. 

Ensure that you are absolutely sure that you wish to withdraw your FPP application before you do so, because this action cannot be reversed once it has been actioned.