UCAS offers

It’s not really good or bad. It’s a lower offer, so might be useful as insurance, but it’s another year of fees and bills. You’ll also be tied into that uni as FY’s may not be accepted elsewhere.

Unis don’t run out of offers, so when you applied will have played no part in the decision. They just think that course will be better for you, (or you were unsuccessful for the main course and this is their alternative).

There’s no rush to decide what to do with the offer. It’s worth contacting them and asking what might happen if you accepted as Form or Insurance and achieved the grades for year 1 entry. IE. would they move you from the FY to the main course automatically.

The entry requirements for maths at Manchester is A*AA so your predicted do not reach that. Honestly I would view the offer as both incredibly lucky and grateful. They could have just rejected you but instead they are giving you the opportunity to study maths there just with an extra year to ensure you meet the standards they need

Thank you so much for your thoughts and will follow your advice and contact them to ask. So you mean I could send an email and ask if I achieved the requirements for the main course and would be willing to move to the main course rather than the FY?

Yes, exactly. A lot of unis do this automatically. So it’s useful info if you do end up picking it, (rather than trying to call on results day).

In your email I would also state that you believe you are contextual eligible, as the person responding won’t necessarily know that.