Deferrals in Apply

Apply doesn't use "deferral" as a formal status, but it fully supports the deferral process through its existing features. This article explains how deferral works in practice, so your team can manage applicants who need to move to a different intake or course.

How deferral works

A deferral means moving an applicant from one programme (course + intake + entry year + mode + campus) to another. This is handled by adding a new programme to the applicant's existing application — a new programme offer is created alongside or instead of the original.

This is not a new application. The applicant's account, submitted data and documents all stay intact.

Deferring an applicant (university-initiated)

Your team can defer an applicant at any stage of the journey:

1. Create a new programme offer for the applicant (for the new intake or course).
2. Issue the new offer to the applicant.
3. Optionally, withdraw the original offer.

There's no restriction on when this can be done — a new programme offer can be created at any point.

Applicant-requested deferral

Applicants can request a deferral by adding a new programme to their existing application themselves — if the "Add another programme" feature is enabled for your university.

• This setting is configurable and can be turned on or off per university.
• When enabled, applicants can add a new programme choice (different intake, entry year, mode or campus) from their application summary.
• Your team then reviews and manually issues a new offer for the new programme.

Task fulfilment and document re-use

When a new offer is issued for a deferred programme, task fulfilment data does not transfer automatically — the applicant will be asked to complete the tasks again for the new programme.

• However, applicants can re-use information they've already provided on a previous programme, choosing which data to carry across rather than starting from scratch.
• Submitted documents are not re-requested.

Your team can also import task fulfilment from another of the applicant's programmes directly — see Importing task fulfilment from another programme.

CAS Shield access after deferral

When a deferred applicant is issued a new unconditional offer:

• Apply sends a CAS Shield access email for each offer that transitions from Apply to CAS Shield.
• If the applicant has already been transitioned to CAS Shield previously, they can access it at any time using their existing login — they don't need to wait for a new email.
• A missing new email is not blocking — the applicant's CAS Shield account remains active.

Duplicate applicant records

If a deferred or returning applicant submits a brand-new application using the same email address, this creates a second record under a different applicant ID, which can affect data visibility and workflow.

• This mainly affects cases where an applicant starts a completely new application rather than being deferred within their existing one.
• Deferring within the existing application (as described above) avoids this.

Summary: what carries over