Context
Some initial teacher training (ITT) providers offer courses that start in January rather than September. Apply was designed around a single September start date and did not support these courses properly.
Providers told us this created problems for applicants and administrative burdens for provider teams. Supporting January start dates became increasingly important as we prepared to mandate the use of DfE's digital services for ITT recruitment from the start of the 2026 to 2027 recruitment cycle.
Previous user journey
Previously, we automatically rejected candidate applications or declined their offers if they did not respond before our September deadlines. Applicants for January courses received the same deadline reminder emails as September applicants. Their applications were rejected and declined at the same points in the recruitment cycle, even though providers wanted to keep their applications open and continue progressing them beyond the end of September
The service was providing these users with incorrect information, with providers telling us they often had to contact applicants to explain that these emails should be ignored. Providers could also no longer update the application in Manage as it had been rejected.
Some providers would duplicate January courses in the next recruitment cycle and ask candidates to reapply after the service had automatically rejected them. This was the only way they could continue progressing an application. This left us with inaccurate data showing one application rejected and one accepted, despite it being the same application.
This meant:
- applicants received conflicting information from providers and the service
- providers had to duplicate courses across recruitment cycles
- recruitment data became less reliable because a single applicant could appear multiple times
- providers could not easily progress applications between recruitment cycles
Changes to the service
We updated Apply so that recruitment deadlines reflect the course start date.
Applications for September courses continue to follow existing September recruitment deadlines. Applications for January courses remain active until January, allowing providers to complete interviews, review references and make offers in our service.
We also updated applicant-facing content so that dashboards and emails reflect these different timelines.
Changes to applicant dashboards
Apply’s applicant dashboards previously only reflected September start dates, showing:
- a single list of applications
- deadlines that relate to September start dates
The new designs grouped applications by start date and showed separate deadlines and guidance for September and January courses.
This helps applicants understand what action they need to take and when.
Applicants can now clearly differentiate their September and January applications. They can also see separate deadlines and instructions relating to each.
Changes to applicant emails
We created a new set of deadline reminder emails for applicants applying to January courses. These emails are triggered at the relevant points in January, helping applicants receive information that matches the course they've applied for.
What's next?
We plan to test whether applicants can:
- identify which deadlines apply to them
- understand the difference between September and January applications
- complete key tasks without needing support from providers
We will carry out highlighter testing with Apply users at different application stages, including those who have applied for January start courses. We may also conduct further follow-up research with this group.
We will also explore how common other course start dates are and whether the service needs to support additional recruitment timelines in future.