How UniSorted is made: eight named editors, primary sources, a documented refresh cadence, AI as a drafting tool under human editorial control, and a corrections process that does not silently rewrite history.

Who writes for UniSorted

Every article is bylined to a named individual editor, never a generic team account. The byline you see is the person whose voice and judgement shape that piece. Click their name at the top of any post for their archive.

Jamie
student-money beat: budgets, bank accounts, loans, day-to-day money.
Priya
grad-careers beat: CVs, interviews, applications, first-job logistics.
Alex
student-life beat: university routine, wellbeing, accommodation experience, harm reduction.
Sophie
university-applications beat: applications, personal statements, choosing courses, results day, gap years.
Marcus
grad-money beat: post-graduation finance, first salary, tax, repayments, pensions.
Ella
deals beat: offers actually worth taking, not affiliate-driven listicles.
Tom
housing beat: renting, halls, deposits, contracts, bills, council tax.
Megan
preparing beat: moving in, freshers' week, kit, parent-and-student logistics.

How we source facts

Every numerical, regulatory, or dated claim on this site is checked against a primary authoritative source the day it is written. We do not cite competitor blogs as the source for a number. The authority is the authority.

The authorities we lean on, with a one-line summary of where each fits:

gov.uk
tax, NI, loans, voting, ID.
Student Finance England
tuition and maintenance loans.
NHS Business Services Authority
NHS-funded course bursaries.
HMRC
tax codes and PAYE.
UCAS
applications, clearing.
FCA
banks and lenders.
FSCS
deposit protection.
Ofgem
energy bills.
Ofcom
broadband and mobile.
University official pages
course-specific data.
ONS
demographics.
Land Registry
housing data.

Each verified claim is logged with its source URL and the date it was checked. If a number on the site is not paired with a primary-source link, that is a defect; email corrections and we will fix it.

How we research

UK student-finance writing has a specific failure mode: rules change, numbers change, and a guide that was true in March is half-wrong by September. We have a process designed to fail loudly when that happens.

  1. Primary sources first. Every figure in the body is paired with the authority's URL.
  2. Verify on use, not from memory. Before a number goes into a post, the writer fetches the live source the same day.
  3. Field evidence where possible. Editors ring the helplines, walk into branches, test the applications, read the actual forms. First-person observations belong in the writing.
  4. A named reviewer where the stakes warrant it. Loan, tax, and tenancy pieces carry a reviewer line alongside the byline. The reviewer's job is to disagree with the writer where they should.

How AI fits in

We use AI as a drafting and editing tool under human editorial control. We are honest about this because the alternative is pretending, and pretending is a worse signal than disclosure.

The line we draw:

  • AI assists with drafting, structure, copy-editing, fact-checking against primary sources, and accessibility. A human editor decides what gets published, signs off the byline, and is accountable for the published piece.
  • AI does not decide what to publish, does not invent quotes or testimonials, and does not fabricate figures. Every number is verified against a primary source the same day. Every named expert quote is solicited directly.
  • Drafts go through automated checks for accuracy (every fact-shaped sentence must map to a verified source), voice (per-editor style fingerprints), structural variation (real prose has burstiness; LLM defaults do not), and first-person evidence (every published post must carry at least one verifiable lived observation).
  • We do not run hundreds of AI-generated pages per day. The site has roughly 220 published articles, each edited deliberately. Scale-for-scale's-sake is the failure mode Google's March 2026 Core Update was designed to catch, and we agree with that judgement.
  • Hero photographs are not AI-generated. Where we use photography it is stock with attribution, original photography from the editor, or licensed imagery.

How often we refresh

Different claims have different shelf-lives. Every article is stamped with a refresh tier:

  • Evergreen: legislation references that effectively do not change.
  • Annual: tax year, NI thresholds, student loan parameters, tuition fees, maintenance loan amounts. Refreshed by 6 April (tax year start) or 1 August (academic year).
  • Quarterly: market averages, regulator decisions, sector trackers. Refreshed every 90 days.
  • Volatile: promotional offers, deal terms, plan prices. Refreshed every 14 days.

The "last verified" date on each article reflects when its facts were last re-checked, not just when the article was last edited. If the date moved, the body changed.

Corrections

If you spot something wrong, email corrections@unisorted.co.uk with the URL and what you think is wrong. We read every correction. The flow:

  1. We verify against the primary source.
  2. If we agree, we fix the piece, bump the updated date, and append a brief note at the bottom of the article describing what changed and when.
  3. If we disagree, we reply explaining why, with the source.

For corrections that materially change a claim, the correction note stays visible at the foot of the piece. We do not silently rewrite history.

Affiliate relationships

Some links on this site are affiliate links. If you sign up via the link, UniSorted may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Affiliate relationships do not influence which products we recommend; we recommend what we would tell a friend. Every page that contains an affiliate link discloses this above the fold.

Conflict of interest

UniSorted is independent. We do not accept payment for editorial coverage. We will not publish a paid piece without labelling it clearly. If a piece is sponsored, it is labelled "Sponsored" at the top, prominently. Currently no sponsored content runs on UniSorted.

Reader voice

Comments are open on every post and read by the byline who wrote the piece. We aim to reply within 72 hours during the academic year. Where a reader correction stands up to verification, it gets folded into the piece with attribution.

We also occasionally include direct reader pull-quotes in pieces where a reader's lived experience adds something the editor could not. These are always real readers, used with permission, and never invented.

What we will not publish

  • Anything we cannot verify against a primary source.
  • Negative claims about a named UK business without supporting evidence.
  • Affiliate recommendations we would not give a friend.
  • Listicles that repeat other sites' listicles without adding original information.
  • AI-generated imagery as hero photos.
  • Anything under a "UniSorted Team" byline. Every post is owned by a named editor.
  • Links to Save the Student (an exclusive sponsorship arrangement there conflicts with our editorial independence on student-finance pieces).

Contact

General: hello@unisorted.co.uk
Corrections: corrections@unisorted.co.uk

If you are a journalist or researcher and want to discuss the editorial process behind the site, the editors are reachable through their author pages.

Scroll to Top