Results Day and Clearing: A Step-by-Step Guide for UK Students
4 min read Article Updated 2026-05-18
Results day is faster than it looks. Most of the work is done automatically: UCAS already has your grades, and your firm and insurance universities already know whether they'll confirm. What you actually do on the day depends on three outcomes, and each one has a clear next step.
When results day is in 2026
- SQA (Scotland): Tuesday 4 August 2026. National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher results.
- A-Level (England, Wales, NI): Thursday 13 August 2026.
If you've signed up for MySQA, text and email results go out from 8am. For A-Levels, schools release grades from 8am local time, with certificates handed out over the morning.
What time does UCAS Hub update on results day?
UCAS Hub updates from 8am BST on A-Level results day (Thursday 13 August 2026). In practice it can take until around 8.15am for every application to refresh, because the system is under heavy load. If your status hasn't moved at 08:00, log out, wait a few minutes, and check again.
From 8am you can see whether your firm or insurance choice has been confirmed. You cannot add a Clearing choice through UCAS Hub until 10:00 UK time, even if you've been matched to one from 8am onwards. UCAS confirmed the 10:00 open time for A-level results day in its 2026 Confirmation and Clearing key dates.
Scottish SQA results (Tuesday 4 August 2026) are a separate release. If you've signed up for MySQA, text and email results go out from 8am BST too.
What UCAS Hub does automatically
UCAS receives your grades directly from the exam board the night before results day. By the time you check UCAS Hub on the morning of results day, your application status will usually be one of three things:
- Unconditional Firm: you met the conditions. Your firm place is confirmed.
- Unconditional Insurance: you missed your firm but met your insurance. Your insurance place is confirmed.
- Unsuccessful at Firm and Insurance: you missed both. You'll be offered Clearing.
You don't need to ring the university to tell them your grades. They already know.
If you're not at this stage yet and want a refresher on how those offer types worked when they first came in, see our guide to UCAS offers: conditional, unconditional, firm and insurance.
If you met your firm choice
Nothing urgent. Confirm accommodation (firm choice universities usually guarantee rooms if you applied by their stated deadline), check your Student Finance application is approved, and watch your email for enrolment instructions. Our what to bring to uni checklist is the next thing to work through.
If you missed your firm but met your insurance
Your insurance place is automatically confirmed. Take a beat, then contact the insurance university's accommodation office. You may have missed their main housing deadline because you only fell to insurance today. Most universities hold a pool of rooms for this exact situation, but it is first-come, first-served.
If you missed both: Clearing
Clearing runs from 2 July 2026 to 19 October 2026, but the action starts the moment your status changes to "unsuccessful at firm and insurance". You'll see a Clearing number in UCAS Hub; you'll use this to apply.
The Clearing process:
- Look up vacancies. UCAS's search shows courses with Clearing places. University websites also publish their own Clearing lists, often with slightly different numbers.
- Phone the university. This is the slowest and most important step. Clearing lines open from 8am on results day. Have your UCAS Personal ID, Clearing number, and grades ready. They'll run through your result, ask a few subject questions, and give you a verbal offer or a "no".
- Add the Clearing choice to UCAS Hub. Once a university gives you a verbal offer, log into UCAS Hub and add it as your Clearing choice. Only do this once, and only for an offer you've accepted verbally.
- Wait for confirmation. The university confirms within hours to a few days. Your status updates to "Placed".
Self-release: if you got in but want to switch
Sometimes you meet your firm offer and decide you don't want the place. Since 2021, UCAS lets you release yourself into Clearing from 5 July onward using the "Decline my place" button in UCAS Hub.
Before you click it:
- Speak to the Clearing university you want to switch to first. Get a verbal offer before declining anything.
- Understand that declining your place also cancels any accommodation and scholarships you arranged through that university. The new university has to re-offer those separately.
- It is permanent. Once declined, you cannot reinstate your firm choice.
Student finance on results day
If your university changes (insurance or Clearing), log into your Student Finance account and update your course. Your loan amount can change depending on the new university's fees and your new term-time address. Student Finance England is used to this: updates in the days after results are normal, but don't leave it for weeks.
If you need a refresher on loan amounts and thresholds, our student loan calculator uses the current 2025/26 rates.
If the worst happens: results lower than expected
First: you can ask for a remark (priority re-grade). Your school handles this, not you directly, and there's a turnaround window of roughly two to three weeks.
Second: remember that universities often still accept applicants who are one grade off, especially in less competitive subjects. Don't assume rejection until you see it in UCAS Hub.
Third: Clearing is a full route in, not a consolation prize. Roughly one in ten UK students gets their place through Clearing each year. Russell Group universities regularly advertise Clearing vacancies.
Sort the move-in admin
Once your place is confirmed (or you have taken a Clearing offer), the next admin block is the move itself. The biggest single thing to do in late August or early September is broadband for halls or a shared house: book it before you move in so the install date lands in week one, not week three. Halls usually include WiFi as standard, but houseshares almost never do.
Broadband Genie covers every UK provider at your halls or house postcode, including the cheaper altnets, and the One Touch Switch rule means changing later is a single phone call.
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A gap year instead
If you missed your grades and don't want to take a Clearing place you're lukewarm about, re-sitting exams and reapplying for 2027 entry is a real option. Read our guide to deferring or changing course for how that works.
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