Gap year to apply for UCL?

You could probably apply to single honours economics at UCL if you did A-level FM.
Note HPE is taught through the SSEES department so it has a distinctive Eastern European focus, and also the economics modules are not taught through the economics department are designed for people with no A-level Maths so are considerably less mathematically sophisticated. Something to be aware of.
Regarding "careers", it depends - if you want to go into investment banking or management consulting then yes UCL is probably the better option due to being a target uni whereas Exeter is at best a semi-target. For anything else it doesn't really matter though.
If you haven't done FM and decide to take a gap year and reapply to other economics courses, you could do A-level FM in your gap year.

Don't mean to hijack the thread but is it realistic to get an offer from UCL econ with A*AA and perhaps an A in FM? I thought the single honours course, even with an Astar in maths, would be very very competitive.

You could probably apply to single honours economics at UCL if you did A-level FM.
Note HPE is taught through the SSEES department so it has a distinctive Eastern European focus, and also the economics modules are not taught through the economics department are designed for people with no A-level Maths so are considerably less mathematically sophisticated. Something to be aware of.
Regarding "careers", it depends - if you want to go into investment banking or management consulting then yes UCL is probably the better option due to being a target uni whereas Exeter is at best a semi-target. For anything else it doesn't really matter though.
If you haven't done FM and decide to take a gap year and reapply to other economics courses, you could do A-level FM in your gap year.

I haven’t done maths A level so doing pure econ is not an option. Thank you for the advice will take this into account 👍

Ah I thought Exeter required A-level Maths for economics there...my mistake!
Obviously the FM suggestion is moot, you could consider doing A-level Maths in a gap year but I suspect just A-level Maths and no FM may not be competitive enough for the single honours economics course at UCL anyway...?
The other points stand just keeping in mind the particular angle of HPE and the department its in and the relevance (or lack thereof) of which uni you go to for different career areas.

Yes thank you very much. Supposedly in areas of finance which require only basic mathematical skills the university reputation matters more than the degree? At least this seems to be the general consensus from the research I have done. Its a bit of a weird situation and one where there is ultimately not a correct options as its entirely subject. Thanks for your advice though 🙂

If by this you mean investment banking/management consulting then yes, going to a target uni is the better option regardless of whether the course is mathematical or not (you could just as well do Viking Studies and Old Norse at UCL and still be as competitive for those areas!).

Yes, you're correct. I asked as I have heard it to be a torrid time lately without a standardized form of testing for Economics, but that is just an anecdote - not sure if it's just the traction for such courses is picking up lately.

From your experience on here, are you aware of the Maths/Statistics departments at UCL and how tough they are in this regard? Trying to work out if my GCSEs (mainly 6/5s) may see me rejected, as I meet the requirements but I'm fairly low on the board compared to others applying I'd imagine.