Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the armed forces assess applicants' UCAS points when those applicants have qualifications of undergraduate degree or above.

The single Services have provided the following information.

Royal Navy (RN)

Regular Officer roles require UCAS points. Exceptions to this are specialist roles, e.g. medical, dental, nursing and meteorology roles, which do not require UCAS points, but have a variety of specialist degree requirements. Engineering Officer roles require both UCAS points and specific degree requirements.

British Army

To apply to join the Army as a commissioned Officer, applicants require 72 UCAS Tariff points from a maximum of three subjects (four for Scottish Highers, excluding General Studies) with a minimum of two subjects at National Level 3 (excluding AS Levels) or National or International equivalent. With further qualifications and UCAS points required for certain specific trades within the British Army, a First Class degree is no longer an automatic waiver to UCAS attainment.

Royal Air Force (RAF)

For most RAF roles, RAF Recruiting and Selection does not routinely assess applicants’ UCAS points when a degree or higher qualification is held. For some specialist roles, such as Biomedical Scientist and Nurse, the UCAS points achieved to gain a first non-related degree may be considered to ensure the candidate is capable of studying the second specialist degree required as part of their in-Service training. This assessment is carried out on a case-by-case basis by Specialist Recruiting Teams with the University providing the specialist degree.