Clearing 2026 opens on 2 July

Clearing is an opportunity for you to find a place at uni. When Clearing opens, universities will publish a list of courses that still have places available. You'll find them using our Clearing course search tool.

You can use Clearing if you didn't get into your firm or insurance choice, didn't receive any offers, or if you've changed your mind about your course or university. 

Clearing opens in July and runs until mid-October, with most applications happening around A-level results day in August. 

If you didn't get the grades you needed for your firm or insurance choices, or you've changed your mind about the course you want to study, you can use Clearing as a chance to find a different course. Search for courses you're interested in on Whatuni and we'll show you ones which have Clearing spaces available. Call the uni to ask any questions and see if they will accept you onto the course with the grades you've received. When you get a verbal offer on the phone from the uni, sign into your UCAS Hub account and add the Clearing course. The uni will then confirm your place.

Clearing can be used by students that didn't meet the conditions of their offer, ones that didn't get any offers, ones that didn't get the grades for their firm or insurance choices or changed their mind about them, ones that got better grades than expected and want to apply to a different uni, and ones that didn't apply before 30 June but want to go to uni this year.

Clearing opens on Saturday 5 July 2025 and runs until Monday 20 October 2025.

Deferring is generally not available through Clearing. If you're considering deferring, discuss this directly with the university.

A lot of universities will have Clearing courses available, as it’s a chance for them to fill up any spaces on courses. Even top-ranking and Russell Group unis will have places on some Clearing courses – but they do fill up quickly.

You can find spaces for all sorts of courses during Clearing, from popular ones like English Literature or Computer Science, or smaller courses that you haven’t considered but would fit your interests.