Contextual offer postcode checker

POLAR4 (Participation of Local Areas, version 4) ranks every small area in the UK by the proportion of its young people who go on to higher education by age 19. Universities read it in quintiles, each 20% of areas: quintile 1 is the lowest-participating fifth of the country, quintile 2 the next fifth. Schemes usually accept quintile 1 on its own, or quintiles 1 and 2 together. POLAR4 has been the standard measure for years and is being replaced by TUNDRA, but plenty of schemes still use it.

TUNDRA (Tracking Underrepresentation by Area) is the measure replacing POLAR4 from the 2025 admissions cycle onwards. It measures the same thing (young participation in higher education by area) but uses more recent data, and is published at two area sizes: LSOA (smaller) and MSOA (larger). Quintile 1 is the lowest-participating 20% of areas, quintile 2 the next 20%. A university naming TUNDRA usually accepts either the LSOA or the MSOA version, so it is worth checking both.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation is the English measure of area disadvantage, combining income, employment, education, health, crime, housing and living-environment data. It ranks every small area from most to least deprived, and universities read it in quintiles (each 20% of areas) or deciles (each 10%). The thresholds that come up most often are quintile 1 (the most deprived 20%) and quintiles 1-2 (the most deprived 40%); UEA uses deciles 1-3 (the most deprived 30%).

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation is Wales's equivalent of the IMD, ranking small areas by the same kind of combined deprivation measures. As elsewhere, the usual thresholds are quintile 1 (the most deprived 20%) and quintiles 1-2 (the most deprived 40%), and it is your home area rather than your household income that counts.

The Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure performs the same role in Northern Ireland. Universities there typically accept the most deprived 20% of areas, or the most deprived 40%.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation is the Scottish measure, and the one most widely used by universities north of the border. Scottish schemes usually name it by the share of areas included: SIMD20 is the most deprived 20% of Scotland, SIMD40 the most deprived 40%.

ACORN (by CACI) and Censation sort every postcode into categories by how affluent its households are. A few universities use their lowest categories as a contextual criterion. Both are commercial datasets, so our checker can't look your postcode up: it shows where this criterion is the only thing between you and an offer, so you can check with the university or its own postcode checker.

Based on the Scottish 8-fold urban/rural classification: classes 4 to 8 cover accessible rural through very remote rural areas. Some universities treat rural isolation as a barrier to participation in its own right.

A few universities make contextual offers to applicants who live nearby, whatever the area's deprivation figures: for example Lincoln (Lincolnshire, including North and North East Lincolnshire), Nottingham Trent (the East Midlands Combined County Authority area), Sunderland (North East England and Cumbria, for medicine) and Sheffield Hallam (postcodes starting S, DN, SK, DE, NG, LN, WF or HD). We work this out from your postcode.

Your school or college is on the university's target list, because it has low progression to higher education, below-average attainment, a high proportion of disadvantaged pupils, or an existing partnership with the university. You cannot usually tell from the outside; the checker uses the wider-participation measures published for schools, or you can ask the university.

You attend, or most recently attended, a state-funded school or college rather than an independent or fee-paying one. Where it is a mandatory requirement it acts as a gate on the rest of the scheme, not as a criterion that qualifies you on its own.

Some schemes only apply to particular qualifications: Bristol's to A-levels and the IB, UCL's to A-levels, the IB, Pre-U or Advanced Highers, Loughborough's to A-levels, and Salford's to A-levels, a BTEC Extended Diploma or a mix of the two.

You are classified as a home student for tuition fees, normally because you have lived in the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years before the course starts. Most contextual schemes are only for home students, so this is often a hard requirement even when it is not one of the 'qualifying' criteria.

You have been eligible for free school meals at some point during school, though some universities require a minimum number of years or a specific key stage. Eligibility is usually checked automatically through the data UCAS shares with universities, so you do not normally have to prove it yourself.

You have spent time in local authority care, including as a looked-after child or a care leaver. Care experience is one of the criteria offered by almost every university, and many of them guarantee a contextual offer rather than assessing it case by case.

You are studying without the support of your parents or guardians. Student Finance England recognises you as estranged if you have not had contact with them for a set period (usually 12 months). Universities accept the same definition and often ask for the same evidence.

You have unpaid caring responsibilities for a family member or another person, for example as a young carer, or as a parent yourself. Some schemes specifically mean young carers, so check the wording.

You or your family hold refugee status, are seeking asylum, or have humanitarian protection. Universities that treat this as an automatic qualifying criterion usually also offer extra financial and pastoral support.

Your household income is below a threshold the university sets, commonly around £25,000. It is normally verified through your means-tested student finance assessment or your UCAS application rather than by submitting payslips.

Neither of your parents or guardians completed a university degree. Usually declared on your UCAS application, and a slightly softer criterion because it is hard for universities to verify independently.

You have completed a recognised access or outreach scheme, for example the Sutton Trust, Realising Opportunities, IntoUniversity, a university's own summer school, or an 'Access to' scheme naming the university you are applying to. Some universities only accept their own programme, so check the specific scheme.

You have a disability, a learning difference such as dyslexia, ADHD or autism, or a long-term health condition. Some universities treat this as a contextual criterion; others handle it only through support services and exam access arrangements, so it is worth checking which.

You will be 21 or over when the course starts. Mature applicants often take different entry qualifications, and several universities use a separate offer range for them.

A parent or guardian served in the armed forces, or you are yourself a veteran or service leaver. This criterion often comes with extra financial support from the university as well as a reduced offer.

You are from an ethnic-minority background that is underrepresented in higher education. Where universities use this criterion it is usually alongside, not instead of, the area-based measures.

Your education has been significantly interrupted or affected by bereavement, serious illness, family breakdown or a similar event. Universities normally ask for this to be described in your UCAS reference or a mitigating-circumstances form rather than being a tick-box criterion.

A few criteria only count for younger applicants, for example Bath's care-experienced, young-carer and estranged routes, and Edinburgh's estranged-student route.

Individual universities also list being homeless or at risk of homelessness, being unable to move away from home to study, or competing in sport at an elite level.