‘No silver bullet’ to fix English admissions system, sector warns

Is there any other country which uses predicted grades? If the majority of the world manages admissions without them, I cannot see why PQA poses such a problem for the U.K.

Countries who do not use predicted grades for university entry have separated university entry tests from other qualifications, which increases the examination burden on prospective students, e.g. in the US, students are required to sit SATs as well as complete the requirements for high school graduation. One option is to defer the application cycle to the following year, in effect forcing a gap year on applicants. This can be spent on voluntary work, gainful employment to get work experience and save for university, or travel, as done by those who chose to defer entry and take a conventional gap year. There's also a potential for widening the scope of youth citizen service to occupy part or all of the year... or indeed for students to take additional qualifications or do resits if they have underperformed.

PQA doesn't remove unconditional offers - universities can admit whomever they like using whatever process they like. Applications aren't centralised and UCAS is not the only route - students can apply directly to university. There's nothing to stop a university signing up next years students at open days etc. even within the proposed PQA systems.