The methodology for provider tariff groupings has been updated for the 2024 publication. More information on the changes and the impact on high tariff progression rates are shown in the section below
Providers have been grouped into low, medium and high tariff providers based on the mean tariff score of their intake.
The cohort used for the calculation is English domiciled full-time first year entrants to undergraduate courses at UK Higher Education Providers who are aged under 21. The providers relate to those providing returns to the HESA Student Record and Alternative Provider Record.
The calculation of mean tariff is based on the total UCAS tariff points of the cohort across all their qualifications, where each individual points score is capped at the equivalent of three A* grades at A level.
The UCAS points used in the calculation for the current year are shown below for A level grades:
| A Level Grade | UCAS points |
|---|
| A* | 56 |
| A | 48 |
| B | 40 |
| C | 32 |
| D | 24 |
| E | 16 |
The maximum score achieved by entrants is therefore set to 168 UCAS points (3 A levels at A* or equivalent). The calculation is carried out for each individual year, with the tariff points used relating to those that were in place at the time. The maximum tariff score was 360 UCAS points until 2010/11 when the A* grade was introduced, which increased the maximum score to 420 UCAS points. The present tariff points scores have been in place since 2017/18.
Only entrants with UCAS tariff points recorded are included in the calculation.
Once the mean tariff score is calculated for each provider, they are ranked and then allocated to low, medium and high tariff groupings with each forming roughly a third of the student cohort. Given the calculation is carried out each year, providers may change tariff groupings over time.
Although all providers are included in the calculation of low, medium and high tariff, we suppress the provider level data for the smallest providers, where the figures are likely to be volatile and less representative of the provider as a whole. Data for providers is suppressed where the number of students included in the calculation is below 23 or where there are fewer than 50% of the cohort with tariffable qualifications.
For this publication we focus on high tariff providers but breakdowns by low, medium and high tariff groupings may be included in future publications. We will continue to update the groupings as new data becomes available.
More details on tariff points are available on the UCAS website:
UCAS undergraduate tariff points (opens in a new tab)
The measure is not intended to be used to rank providers based on their selectivity or to judge their quality. In particular, some providers, such as those specialising in single subjects such as music and drama, are less likely to rely on UCAS tariff points for entry than more general providers. Judging selectivity based on UCAS tariff points alone is therefore likely to give a false impression. In addition, some of the more diverse providers are likely to be selective for some subjects and not others and this would be hidden by a measure covering the whole provider.
It should also be noted that the measure is based on English entrants aged under 21. The measure may therefore be less representative of providers where they have a large proportion of non-English domiciled students and/or older students.
This publication relates to progression to HE by age 19 for students who attended English schools and colleges. Given the coverage differs from that used to identify the tariff scores, we would not expect to see a third of students who attended English schools and colleges in each tariff group.
Given the calculation is carried out each year, providers may move in and out of the high tariff grouping over time. This can lead to volatile high tariff progression rates at regional and local authority level if a large local provider moves between tariff groups.
Changes from the 2023 publication
The publication previously used provider tariff groupings produced by HESA. However, HESA no longer produce these groupings and stopped updating them from 2019/20.
The method used for the 2024 publication is a simplified version of the previous HESA methodology. The calculation is now based on the total UCAS tariff points (from all qualifications) for each individual capped at the equivalent of three A* grades at A level. The calculation is now restricted to English domiciled entrants rather than UK domiciled.
The previously used HESA methodology differed in that it built up the tariff points for each individual based on their top three A level or equivalent qualifications before being normalised against the maximum points score (equivalent to three A* grades at A level). The calculation was based on UK domiciled entrants.
In addition, under the previous methodology, providers were allocated to low, medium and high tariff groupings so that each formed roughly a third of students who had tariff points recorded. The updated methodology instead uses the full cohort of students to allocate providers to tariff groups. This ensures that the likelihood of an individual progressing to a high tariff provider is more consistent over time.
The 2024 methodology update has had a small impact on the mean tariff scores of the vast majority of institutions but does lead to some providers changing tariff groups.
However, the measure is more stable because we now restrict to English domiciled entrants rather than UK domiciled, which provides closer alignment with the cohort of pupils in English schools and colleges used as the basis of this publication.
Restricting to English domiciled students increases the progression rates compared to UK domiciled. This is because non-English HE providers have less weight in the calculation and English school and college students are more likely to attend English HE providers than non-English providers.
Note the calculation is carried out for entrants in each individual year and so providers may change between groupings year on year
Impact of changes
The tables below compare the high tariff progression rates for the old HESA method against the new method.
The old method was based on UK domiciled entrants and the new method is restricted to English domiciled. In order to allow a direct comparison of the impact of the methodology change, a UK domiciled version of the new method is shown to give the closest possible comparison to the old method. Note, however, that this publication uses the English domiciled version for tariff groupings.
Note that the old HESA method hasn't been updated since 2019/20, hence the figures for 2020/21 onwards relate to the provider groupings calculated in 2019/20
The table below shows the high tariff progression rates for state-funded pupils at age 15 under each of the methods.
The new method gives similar high tariff progression rates in most years from 2011/12 to 2019/20 when looking at UK domiciled entrants. For 2020/21 onwards, the old method figures relate to the provider groupings calculated in 2019/20 and so this doesn't provide a direct comparison of the impact of the methodology change.
When we restrict to English domiciled entrants (as used for this publication) we see a greater increase in high tariff progression rates in the most recent years.
High tariff progression rates for state-funded pupils - comparison of methods
| Academic Year | New Method - English Domiciled | New Method - UK Domiciled | Old Method - UK Domiciled |
|---|
| 2009/10 | 9.8% | 9.8% | 8.4% |
| 2010/11 | 9.8% | 9.4% | 8.6% |
| 2011/12 | 10.3% | 9.8% | 9.6% |
| 2012/13 | 9.2% | 9.0% | 8.6% |
| 2013/14 | 10.0% | 9.8% | 9.0% |
| 2014/15 | 11.3% | 10.7% | 10.2% |
| 2015/16 | 11.0% | 10.4% | 10.2% |
| 2016/17 | 11.4% | 10.8% | 9.7% |
| 2017/18 | 12.0% | 10.7% | 10.1% |
| 2018/19 | 11.8% | 10.6% | 10.9% |
| 2019/20 | 12.4% | 10.6% | 10.9% |
| 2020/21 | 12.1% | 10.3% | 11.4% |
| 2021/22 | 13.0% | 11.6% | 13.4% |
| 2022/23 | 15.3% | 13.6% | 14.0% |
The table below shows the high tariff progression rates for Key State 5 students at age 17 under each of the methods.
We see a similar pattern to that seen for state-funded pupils with the new method giving similar high tariff progression rates in most years from 2011/12 to 2019/20 when looking at UK domiciled entrants. Again for 2020/21 onwards, the old method figures relate to the provider groupings calculated in 2019/20 and so this doesn't provide a direct comparison of the impact of the methodology change.
When we restrict to English domiciled entrants we see a greater increase in high tariff progression rates in the most recent years.
High tariff progression rates for KS5 students - comparison of methods
| Academic Year | New Method - English Domiciled | New Method - UK Domiciled | Old Method - UK Domiciled |
|---|
| 2009/10 | 28.1% | 28.2% | 24.6% |
| 2010/11 | 26.5% | 25.6% | 23.8% |
| 2011/12 | 25.7% | 24.7% | 24.1% |
| 2012/13 | 22.3% | 22.0% | 21.1% |
| 2013/14 | 23.1% | 22.6% | 21.1% |
| 2014/15 | 24.2% | 23.2% | 22.3% |
| 2015/16 | 22.9% | 21.9% | 21.5% |
| 2016/17 | 23.7% | 22.6% | 20.7% |
| 2017/18 | 25.2% | 23.0% | 21.9% |
| 2018/19 | 24.7% | 22.6% | 23.1% |
| 2019/20 | 30.0% | 26.7% | 27.2% |
| 2020/21 | 28.6% | 25.3% | 27.1% |
| 2021/22 | 29.7% | 26.7% | 30.3% |
| 2022/23 | 33.8% | 31.0% | 31.3% |