Application
Applications for the F2 Stand-alone Programme are managed through the Oriel application system. You must submit your application through the F2 Stand-alone Programme vacancy on Oriel during the national application window. Information on how to complete your application on Oriel can be found on the How to apply webpages.
Longlisting
The UKFPO will carry out a central process of longlisting to check that your application meets the F2 person specification and essential eligibility criteria.
If your application does not meet the F2 person specification and essential eligibility criteria, your application will be longlisted out of the process and will not progress any further in this recruitment round. More information can be found on the Longlisting outcomes webpage.
Shortlisting (SJT)
If your application is successful at the longlisting stage, you will be required to undertake the F2 Situational Judgement Test (SJT) as part of the shortlisting stage. There are no exceptions or exemptions to this requirement. You will be sent an email to invite you to book your appointment. Your application will not progress any further if you do not sit the SJT. Information about the Situational Judgement Test can be found on the SJT webpages.
SJT scores will be used to shortlist applicants. Recruitment for F2 Stand-alone Programmes is an extremely competitive process, meaning that only the applicants who achieve the highest SJT scores will be invited to attend an interview.
If you do not receive an invitation to attend an interview, your application will be shortlisted out of the process and will not progress any further in this recruitment round.
Interviews
If your application is shortlisted, you will receive an email to invite you to book an interview date and time. Interviews are booked via Oriel, and places are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Refer to the Interviews webpage for further information.
Interview outcomes will be released to applicants through Oriel, as per the F2 Stand-alone application timeline. You will be advised if you were deemed appointable or not appointable.
If you are deemed appointable, your application will progress to the Offers stage.
If you are deemed not appointable, your application and will not progress any further in this recruitment round.
Preferencing
If you are deemed appointable at interview, you will be invited to preference the available F2 stand-alone programmes. This process takes place on Oriel, where you will be asked to rank the programmes in order of your preference. Information on how to rank programme preferences on Oriel can be found on the Preferencing and offers webpage.
The option to opt into upgrades was removed in 2025, so bear this in mind when preferencing the available programmes to ensure that you only preference programmes you would be happy to accept.
Offers
As recruitment to F2 Stand-alone is a competitive process, it is important to remember that being deemed appointable at interview does not guarantee that you will receive an offer.
Each applicant is given a unique rank based on their interview score. This means the applicant with the highest interview score will rank first, and so on. Offers will be based on a meritocratic algorithm whereby the highest scoring applicant will be matched to their highest programme preference choice available. Oriel will work through each applicant in rank order and attempt to match applicants to their highest available programme choice.
If you receive an offer, you will be able to either accept or decline the offer. Information on how to accept/decline an offer on Oriel can be found on the Preferencing and offers webpage.