Embargo helps stop inadvertent communication of results to undergraduate applicants. Applicants with an application under embargo cannot access the applicant portal. Admissions staff are alerted to applicants with applications under embargo. Agents cannot view applications under embargo on the agent portal. Typically, no communications are allowed with applicants with applications under embargo. However, the rules depend on your institution.
Embargo
Embargo defines the embargo periods for entry systems, such as UCAS. For example, UCAS defined the following embargo periods in 2023:
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11 August at 14:00 (UK time) to 17 August at 08:00 (UK time) for results in England and Wales through the JCQ (Joint Council for Qualifications).
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31 July at 18:00 (UK time) to 8 August at 09:00 (UK time) for results in Scotland through the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority).
Each entry system can have several embargo types, such as JCQ and SQA for the UCAS entry system, and each embargo type can have several embargo periods.
During an embargo period, embargo helps to stop the inadvertent communication of results to applicants as follows:
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Applicants cannot access the applicant portal
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Admission staff are alerted to applicants with applications under embargo.
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Agents cannot view applications on the agent portal.
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Communications are suspended until the embargo period has ended. On the Communications tab, the status of communications is Suspended.
Applicants
During the embargo period, the applicant portal is closed for applicants with an application that falls under the embargo. On logging in to the portal, applicants with an application under embargo are advised that the portal is closed and when the applicant portal will next be available. The image Applicant portal closed shows the applicant portal when an embargo applies.
Admissions staff
Banners alert admissions staff that an embargo is in place. For example, the generic banner below alerts that a UCAS embargo is in place and when the embargo ends.
The generic banner is displayed when viewing desks, features in Applications such as Create applications, and in other apps. However, for admissions staff viewing applications from UCAS, banners alert that the application being viewed is under embargo as shown in the example below.
Applicants, such as direct applicants. that have applications in addition to applications from UCAS applications, banners alert that the embargo applies to applications other than the application being viewed as shown in the example below.
Agents
During the embargo period, the agent portal locks all applications that fall under the embargo. For example, the image Agent portal shows applications in the agent portal that are locked as they are under embargo.
