The odds
What are the chances of getting on a DClinPsy?
18% of applicants got an NHS-funded place in 2026: 6,236 people for 1,133 places. Every figure here is the Clearing House's own, linked and dated.
- Applicants
- 6,236
- NHS places
- 1,133
- Got a place
- 18%
2026 entry
2026 entry
as published
18% of applicants got an NHS-funded place in 2026. That is 6,236 people applying for 1,133 places. Five years earlier the rate was 25%.
The reason it has fallen is not that places were cut. Applications rose 34% between 2022 and 2026, while the number of places barely moved — 1,155 then, 1,133 now. The competition grew; the profession did not.
Applicants and places, 2022 to 2026
Both measured in people, so both sit on one scale. The success rate is a percentage and is shown in the table below rather than forced onto this axis.
- Applicants
- NHS places
Every published year
| Entry year | Applicants | NHS places | Got a place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 6,236 | 1,133 | 18% |
| 2025 | 5,910 | 1,179 | 20% |
| 2024 | 5,603 | 1,164 | 21% |
| 2023 | 4,990 | 1,166 | 23% |
| 2022 | 4,655 | 1,155 | 25% |
Success rates are the Clearing House's own published figures, not calculated here. Source: Number of places, page last updated 7 September 2026, checked 11 September 2026.
What this number is not
It is not your probability. It is one national average across every applicant and every course. Someone applying to four courses that suit them, with the experience those courses ask for, is not in the same position as the average — and neither figure is knowable in advance.
We will not give you a readiness score, a percentile or a chance of an offer, and you should distrust anyone who does. No course publishes how it weights any part of an application, and the Clearing House publishes no per-course success rates. A number of that kind could only be invented, and inventing one about somebody's career at the worst moment of their year is not something this site will do.
What the figures leave out
- Self-funded places are not in this series. The Clearing House counted 283 self-funded applicants for 2025 entry, reported separately in its September 2025 newsletter.
- Reapplication is not published at all. With around four in five applicants unsuccessful each year against a flat number of places, the pool must contain many people applying again — but the Clearing House publishes no figure for it, so there is none to quote here.
- No per-course rates exist publicly. Which is why what each course assesses is worth more to you than the national average.
What happens after training
Worth holding on to on a bad day: of those who complete the doctorate, 90.5% were employed as a clinical psychologist within twelve months of qualifying, and trainee non-completion was 0.5% ( Clearing House Newsletter, September 2025, covering 2025 entry). The hard part is getting in.
Not affiliated with the Clearing House, the BPS or the HCPC. Figures are re-checked against the source each autumn.