Previous years' data

Application numbers & regional competition ratios

The table below shows the number of posts, applications and resulting competition ratios from recent years. Please be aware that the figures in this table were taken at the end of the recruitment year.

Vacancy / application numbers, round 1 2015-2021
Year	Vacancies	Applications	Competition ratio
2021	1567	3590	2.29
2020	1610	2798	1.74
2019	1563	2225	1.42
2018	1638	2455	1.50
2017	1678	2337	1.39
2016	1640	2516	1.53
2015	1550	2631	1.70

Changes were made to the recruitment process in 2018 such that applications are now made nationally, with candidates in competition for all regions throughout the process, where in previous years applications were made to a specific region. Although the process has changed, there is data on the website from previous years to help you gauge the relative popularity of each region:

• Information about programme preferences and the competitiveness of each region can be found in the document library.
• Fill rate data from previous years is available in the document library.
• The table below shows the posts, applications and competition ratios for each region for round 1 of recruitment between 2015-2017 (when applicants preferenced specific regions at time of application); notes on the table's columns are given beneath the table:

Vacancy / application numbers per region, round 1 2015 - 2017
Region		2015			2016		2017
	Vacancies	Apps	Comp ratio	Vacancies	Apps	Comp ratio	Vacancies	Apps	Comp ratio
HE East Midlands	85	95	1.12	87	119	1.37	94	95	1.01
HE East of England	109	141	1.29	115-140	116	0.91	119-139	105	0.81
HE Kent, Surrey & Sussex	98-111	122	1.16	115	104	0.9	99-130	107	0.93
HE North East	70	106	1.51	81	72	0.89	91	72	0.79
HE NW (Mersey)	70-80	92	1.39	70-90	266	1.43	70-90	238	1.33
HE NW (North Western)	103-121	168		94-118			90-107
HE SW (Peninsula)	88	179	2.03	47-57	160	1.37	47	150	1.33
HE SW (Severn)				65			66
HE Thames Valley	33-58	92	2.04	38-48	96	2.23	43-48	85	1.87
HE Wessex	64	77	1.20	56-67	82	1.33	60-67	60	0.94
HE West Midlands	108-132	164	1.37	122-150	139	1.02	102-122	133	1.19
HE Yorkshire & Humber	122	156	1.28	152	156	1.03	144-179	141	0.87
London	309	832	2.69	267-312	784	2.71	250-305	745	2.68
Northern Ireland	52	113	2.17	70	83	1.19	88	82	1.07
Scotland	102	231	2.27	116	244	2.1	134	249	1.86
Wales	62	59	0.95	77-92	89	1.05	82-92	69	0.79
Total	1524	2627	1.72	1666	2510	1.51	1683	2337	1.39

Region

These are divided into the regions to which applicants could be considered in 2015-17. The number of applications relates to the total that chose it as their first choice region on their application form.

Vacancies

The vacancy numbers given here for each region are the total of all ACCS-IM and CMT vacancies available in the round. Numbers for this table are taken at the end of the round 1 application period; however, please note that post numbers sometimes change (usually upwards) during the recruitment year; final post numbers for the year is available with the fill rate information in the document library.

Competition ratio

The competition ratio for each region is calculated simply by dividing the number of applicants by the (total) number of posts available; eg 10 applicants competing for five posts would give a ratio of 2.0. When a range is given for post numbers, the mid-point is taken to calculate competition ratios and totals.