The Notify Gazette
Published by Authority · United Kingdom Edition
OFFICIAL · UCAS · Russell Group · Open University · Student Loans Company
Notice No.
NTC-GB-008
Date Issued
2026-05-27
Status
In force
Category
Higher Education

UCAS Clearing, conditional and unconditional offers, Russell Group enrolment, accommodation and Student Loans Company notifications

Half a million UK and international students go through the UCAS cycle every year, peaking in Clearing on A-level results day in mid-August. The Russell Group of 24 research-intensive universities, the Open University with its 168,000 students, the Student Loans Company instalments and the freshers'-week OTP estate all run through one shared customer touchpoint. 4notify dispatches Clearing decisions, accommodation allocations, term-time payment reminders and SLC instalment alerts with home-nation and international student variants.

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Preamble

Whereas the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service operates the principal admissions process for full-time undergraduate higher education in the United Kingdom, and whereas the Russell Group of 24 research-intensive universities, the Open University and the Student Loans Company operate parallel customer touchpoints across the academic year, the present Notice records the standing dispatch specification for higher-education notifications through 4notify Operations.

Cited Statutes
Higher Education and Research Act 2017

Statutory basis for the Office for Students and the regulation of higher-education providers in England.

Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011

Student Loans Company instalment regime and overpayment recovery.

UCAS Terms and Conditions of Admission 2026 Cycle

Decision and acceptance deadlines, Clearing window, Adjustment, and the firm + insurance choice model.

UK GDPR Article 6(1)(e) + Article 9(2)(g)

Public-task lawful basis for higher-education admissions and the special-category basis for disability accommodation processing.

Implementation
01

UCAS Hub event subscription

4notify ingests UCAS Hub events at the institution side; Clearing, conditional / unconditional / firm / insurance / adjustment / declined / withdrawn events normalised.

02

Two-channel critical-decision dispatch

Clearing day decisions: push (instant) + SMS (2-minute fallback) + email (5-minute fallback); home-nation language variants for Welsh and Scottish institutions.

03

Accommodation allocation + bedding-pack pickup

Halls allocation dispatched with one-tap acceptance; bedding-pack pickup window with QR code at the receiving porter's lodge.

04

SLC instalment reminder

Three SLC instalments per academic year (Sep / Jan / Apr) with T-7 reminder; overpayment recovery alerts; postgraduate loan instalments tracked separately.

Dispatch Envelope
json
{
  "event": "ucas.clearing.decision",
  "ucas_personal_id": "1234567890",
  "institution": "imperial.ac.uk",
  "course": "G400 Computing (BEng)",
  "decision": "conditional_offer",
  "conditions": ["A* in Mathematics", "A in Further Mathematics", "A in Physics"],
  "reply_by": "2026-09-04",
  "channels": ["push", "sms", "email"],
  "template": "ucas_conditional_offer_v2"
}
Sample Dispatch
SMS

Imperial College London: Your conditional offer for G400 Computing (BEng) is confirmed. Conditions: A* Maths, A Further Maths, A Physics. Reply by 4 Sep on UCAS Hub: ucas.com/hub

Enforcement Checklist
  • UCAS Hub event subscription at the institution side
  • Russell Group + Open University dispatch templates approved
  • Home-nation (en-GB / cy-GB / gd-GB) variants tested
  • SLC instalment calendar synced per student
  • Accommodation bedding-pack QR pickup live
What 4notify does differently

4notify is the only A2P platform that ingests UCAS Hub events at the institution side, dispatches Clearing decisions across push / SMS / email within a single envelope, and tracks SLC undergraduate + postgraduate instalments alongside Russell Group accommodation allocations.

Questions on the Order Paper
Does 4notify replace the UCAS Hub?

No. 4notify operates downstream of UCAS Hub: the institution makes the admissions decision in Hub, and 4notify dispatches the customer-facing notification through the student's preferred channel.

Are international students handled differently?

Yes — CAS (Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies) for visa-route students, Welcome Week pre-arrival cadence and currency-aware deposit reminders.

Does the SLC integration cover postgraduate loans?

Yes — postgraduate Master's loans and Doctoral loans run on their own instalment calendars, tracked separately from undergraduate instalments.

Signed at the Cabinet Office
4notify Operations
2026-05-27 · NTC-GB-008

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