Ranking, offers and post offers

Dental Foundation Training (DFT) applicant guide

This page will be updated by end of September 2025.

You will be notified on the status of your Dental Foundation Training (DFT) application via Oriel.

Offer matching 

There are two steps that form part of the offer matching process. First is your national ranking and secondly is your preferencing ranking. We will go into detail below: 

National Ranking

The scores will be centrally collated to produce a single national ranking based upon the scores from the SJT.

You will be provided with your score and rank after the first offers have been released.

Your total score is made up of 100% of your score equalling your mark on the SJT.

In the event of tied ranks, there are a number of pilot questions included in the SJT which are not used to determine your SJT score but will be used for the purposes of breaking ties.

The pilot questions do not lengthen the duration of the SJT test.

If the pilot questions do not then break the ties, the scores across the 4 domains assessed in the SJT will be used to break ties.

Case study

Case study: Tied ranks

Luisa and Farid both had a total weighted SJT score of 82.5.

However, Luisa answered 5 out of 6 pilot questions correctly whereas Farid answered 6 out of 6 pilot questions correctly.

This means that Farid would rank above Louisa in the overall national ranking as he answered more pilot questions correctly.

You will receive your offer rank and total SJT score on the day offers are released.

Appointability

You will be notified on the status of your application via your Oriel account by the end of January 2026.

If you are deemed successful we call this being appointable. Keep in mind this does not guarantee that you will receive a DFT offer.

Should you be unsuccessful in being awarded your BDS by 2 June 2026 you will be withdrawn from the recruitment process. If you are in the UK your dental school will provide us with this information.

Offer process

Below are details of how the offer process works

Step 1 - Preferencing

Applicants are required to preference schemes and you will be notified when the window opens and closes.

Step 2 - Offer match

The preferences that are saved when the window closed will be used to run a match and therefore be used to make offers.

Step 3 - Offer

Once you have been made an offer you will be notified via Oriel and required to make a decision on your offer.

Step 3a - Ranked too low for an offer

If you have not been made an offer in the first iteration of offers, we advise you to review your preferencing ranking and widen your selection but only to schemes which you are willing to train in. 

Step 3b – Preference amended

If you’ve already widened your choices, there’s nothing more to do and wait for the team to release more offers in further iteration.   

Step 3c – Preferenced out  

If you rank only a limited selection of schemes and your overall score isn’t high enough to secure one of those, you may not receive an offer. Select as many schemes as possible when preferences reopen. A broader range increases your chances of being successfully matched. 

Step 3d – Not preferenced  

If you have not preferenced you will not be included in the matching process. We advise you to review this when the window opens.

More guidance on offers

Your offer match to a DFT scheme will depend on the ranking you achieve as a result of your Situational Judgement Test (SJT) performance and the preferences that you submit on Oriel.

The first ranked applicant will be offered their first preferenced scheme and so on.

See the case study below for more details.

Once the offer match been released you will be either:

  • Notified via oriel that an offer to a DFT scheme has been made
  • A notification that all current vacancies have been filled and you are on the reserve list

Offers of training placements are conditional and will be made to those who gain Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) or equivalent by (to be confirmed) 2025.

Your allocation to a DFT scheme will depend on the ranking you achieve as a result of your Situational Judgement Test (SJT) performance and the preferences that you submit on Oriel.

The first ranked applicant will  be offered their first preferenced scheme and so on.

Making a decision on your offer

To accept or decline an offer, click on the appropriate button from the Offer/Actions section of the offer summary.

When you click on Accept you will be taken to a confirmation screen.

You must ensure that you tick the confirmation check box before you click the confirm button in order to confirm your response. 

A green confirmation message box is displayed at the top of the screen when you have successfully submitted your response. 

You will be given 48 hours in which to accept, accept with upgrades, or reject an offer by logging in to Oriel and going to the offer tab of your dashboard.

If you fail to accept during this 48 hour period, you will be deemed to have rejected the offer made and the system will automatically expire the offer.

Should you be unsuccessful in obtaining your BDS by 2 June 2026 12pm you will be withdrawn from the recruitment process.

The Oriel message you receive once you have been made an offer is your official confirmation of an offer to Dental Foundation Training.

Any documentation required to support external processes (e.g. Mortgage) will need to be discussed with the lead employer/region where your offer is in.

Once an offer is accepted it cannot be changed to a training placement to another NHSE Local Office/Deanery or scheme unless you opt in to upgrades in the first offer phase.

Once upgrade deadline has passed, there will be no opportunity to change offers or swap offers with applicants.

Upgrades

Upgrading is the process where you can be automatically matched to another scheme you have ranked higher than the one you have been offered.

It is only available once you have accepted your offer, and selected opted in to upgrades. You do not need to opt in for upgrades if you are happy with your offer.

Upgrading offer matches will continue until the upgrade deadline 4 June 2026 4pm. After this date, no further upgrades will be offered and swapping of schemes is not permitted.

Once you accept the offer, you can only change your preferences by opting into upgrades using the button on the offer page; once opted in, your preferences will appear at the bottom of the page, where you can make changes.

Case study

Case Study: I received an offer but can no longer train in that region

We want to bring to your attention that after you have been matched with a scheme, you cannot remove that scheme from your preferences.

Should you no longer want to train there, the only option is to opt in for upgrades (if the offer was before the upgrade deadline), amend your preference ranking, to only rank schemes in the region you can train in higher than your offered scheme.

Important: Upgrades

If you opt in to upgrades, and an upgrade becomes available, you do not have an option to decline the upgrade.

Upgrades occur automatically and replace your initial offer which cannot be reinstated.

Reject an offer

If you reject an offer, you will not be included in any further offer matching in the recruitment round.

Any offer that is declined or that expires will be reoffered in 48-hour iterations to the next eligible appointable applicants, in rank order and according to saved preferences.

If you are therefore initially placed on the reserve list – it is advisable to check your email and Oriel account regularly as offers will be ongoing throughout the offer matching process until the transfer of information date.

Reserve list

Following the first offer match, not all candidates will have received a match for following reasons:

  • Did not rank high enough to be made an offer 
  • Did not preference any schemes therefore not include in the matching  
  • Limited preference selection and ‘preferenced out’  

Those who have not preferenced widely may not receive an offer, and their status will remain as interview complete. Your rank is to be included still in further offer matches.

Whilst we aim to offer as many posts as possible in our matches, on occasion applicants will rank a small number of preferences and these are no longer available to match to an offer. 

Any offer that is declined or that expires will be reoffered to the next eligible appointable applicants, in rank order and according to saved preferences. 

Therefore, if you are initially placed on the reserve list, it is advisable to check your email and Oriel account every 24 hours, as offers will be made on a rolling basis. 

We also recommend expanding your preferences choices as wide as possible. 

Any offer that is declined or that expires will be reoffered usually in 48-hour iterations to the next eligible appointable applicants, in rank order and according to saved preferences. 

Case study

Case Study: How Dental Foundation offers will work

Colin’s top 5 preference schemes were: NHSE North East - North Scheme, NHSE North East -South Scheme, NHSE North East - Central Scheme, NHSE North West - Blackburn Scheme and NHSE North West - Lancaster Scheme.

He was ranked 1025 - meaning that 1024 applicants were ranked higher than him.

When it was Colin’s turn to be allocated, all the vacancies within NHSE North East - North Scheme, NHSE North East - South Scheme, NHSE North East - Central Scheme and NHSE North West - Blackburn Scheme had been filled with higher ranking applicants.

There was still a vacancy within the NHSE - North West - Lancaster Scheme therefore Colin was sent an offer for this scheme.

Information:

The above case study demonstrates the importance of the preferences that you make. It is advised to preference as many schemes as you are prepared to train in – if you limit the number of schemes, you preference, this could limit your possibility of being offered a training placement.

If you limit your preferences and you do not rank highly enough to be offered any of them, you will not be offered a training post – even if you are eligible to receive an offer based on your score and rank.

In this case you are considered to have pre-emptively declined an offer of a post as the only vacancies left are in schemes that you are not prepared to train in.

This is indicated by placing the scheme in the ‘Not wanted’ column on Oriel.

Preferencing out

Whilst we aim to offer as many posts as possible in our matches, on occasion applicants will rank a small number of preferences and these are no longer available to match to an offer.

You can rank high enough to receive an offer but due to the limited schemes you have selected during preferencing will mean you have not received an offer, and your Oriel status is Interview Complete.

You will continue to be included in offer matches, and we advise that you widen your scheme preference choices when preferences are open to increase the opportunities of receiving a match.   

Post offer processes

See information below for deferrals, less than full-time training and post offer details for Dental Foundation Training recruitment 2026-27.

Deferrals

Deferrals of 12 months after the proposed DFT post start date can only be approved on the basis of statutory reasons. These include:

  • maternity, paternity or adoption leave
  • periods of personal ill health

Please ensure you inform the region where you have accepted an offer of your intention to defer as soon as they make initial contact.

Less than full-time training

If you are applying to enter Dental Foundation Training but are unable to train full time, you may be able to apply for less than full-time training (LTFT), provided you can show that training on a full-time basis would not be practical for you for well-founded reasons.

  • well-founded reasons may include, for example: 
  • disability
  • ill health
  • caring responsibilities
  • religious commitments
  • unique opportunities for personal or professional development

Less than full time training must meet the same requirements as full-time training, except that there will be fewer hours of work per week.

Please note that you will need to secure a full-time post in open competition before you can make an application to work LTFT.

You should apply for eligibility through your current NHSE local office/deanery ahead of this and indicate your desire to work less than full time on your application form.

If you are, or will be, on a Skilled Worker visa, your pro rata salary must meet the minimum salary threshold for this visa type.

Please contact the region you have accepted an offer in if you are planning to apply for LTFT training, so the region can review your request and advise further.

Post offer - post upgrade deadline

Once the upgrade deadline has passed (see recruitment timeline) you are unable to change regions/schemes.

You will not be made any further offers and the offer that you have been given will be the final offer.

You should speak to the region where you have recieved an offer in for any support you may need however this will not mean any change in region/schemes.

We do not facilitate any swaps or changing of schemes with applicants in the process for Dental Foundating Training.

Attendance of Dental Foundation study days and Local allocation process

See information below for attendance of study days and Local allocation process details for Dental Foundation Training recruitment 2026-27.

Attendance of 2026-27 Dental Foundation study days

If your application is successful, you will be expected to participate in all study day courses and equivalent prescribed virtual or on-line activities, as set out in the published 2026-27 programme.

Attendance at all of the Dental Foundation study days is mandatory for all Foundation Dentists.

The study days will run consistently from 1 September 2026.

You must be available to attend all commissioned study days provided during this time and therefore should not plan annual or other leave during this training period.

Consent of absence will only be considered in exceptional circumstances, subject to the agreement of the Postgraduate Dental Dean, following a written request at least 6 weeks in advance.

Any study days missed will be expected to be made up with suitable equivalent training/education (approved by the relevant Postgraduate Dental Dean for Dental Foundation Training) in your own time and, where necessary, at your own cost.

Local allocation process

All preferences will be to scheme level.   

For September 2026 start dates, allocation to a practice will take place after upgrade deadline which is on 4 June 2026 4pm.

Allocation to a training practice within a DFT scheme will be managed locally by the Local Office/Deanery/Nation hosting the scheme and does not constitute part of the England, Wales and Northern Ireland national recruitment process.

Once all offers have been accepted the list of successful applicants, with their ranking within each scheme, will be sent to the NHS England Local Office/Deanery hosting that scheme.

This ranking may then be used to inform the local allocation process of a training post at an individual dental practice.

The allocation of practices may be made on the basis of your ranking and your preferences.

If accepted a post in London and KSS schemes

You will receive an alert on your dashboard alert list, labelled ‘Allocation acknowledgment pending’.

Allocations are linked to an accepted offer, and therefore you must access your Offers tab to view and acknowledge this information.

Within the Offers tab, an offer for which there is a pending allocation is displayed with a yellow Allocation pending banner. 

Click on the offer to view the information, and then Click ‘Acknowledge allocation’ to confirm that you have read this information. 

Note, acknowledging your allocation allows the administrator to see that you have viewed this information. As you have already been offered, and accepted a job offer, failure to acknowledge the allocations has no impact on your job offer.

Enquiries

Any further enquiries should be made via the Applicant Support Portal.

Page last reviewed: 31 July 2025
Next review due: 31 July 2027