Okay, firstly - lots of non-RG unis ask for grades just as high as RG unis. They’re research intensive but it doesn’t always make them the best places to study in certain subjects. If you look up the courses he’s applying to (ie History at Lancaster etc) then a page like this one www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/history-ba-hons-v100/ should come up. All the uni websites will be formatted differently obviously but each subject they offer should have its own page. Then you need to scroll through that page looking for “entry requirements” - in this case History at Lancaster asks for AAB (note - not an RG university but asking for higher grades than quite a lot of RG universities do! An example of why the title means very little to undergraduates.)
Check your son’s courses entry requirements. It might be good to have 2 or 3 aspirational/top end of prediction (so in his case BBB) 1 or 2 in the middle (so maybe BBC) and then 1 a bit lower (so CCC or equivalent). Then when it comes to putting down a “firm” and “insurance” he can put a lower grade for if things go horribly wrong. Just make sure he’s applying to unis that ask for BBB or below really - it doesn’t matter whether they’re Russell group or not.
You can apply to up to 5 courses, and most people apply to all five at once but you can apply to less and add later. Has your DS got a UCAS login? He needs to sort this part out himself and on that it’s quite clear how to select the courses. The form is easy to follow - split into sections that you can check off when completed.
An unconditional offer is given out when no more grades need to be achieved - so it means rather than a university offering a place under the conditions that the pupil achieves BBB, they just say they’d like the pupil regardless of their grades. Some unis do lower the grades or make he offer unconditional if firmed and that will be stipulated in the conditions that come up on UCAS track when the offer is awarded, and sometimes via email/letter too. If a course isn’t massively competitive it’s also often quite likely that a student could get into a firm with grades lower than their offer on results at, but there’s no way of guaranteeing that.
It doesn’t matter when he applies - all applications are considered equally up until 15th January. Most people like to get it in before Christmas just so they’ve got places all sorted by January/February.
Lots of RG unis go into clearing, as do lots of other very good universities.
It shouldn’t be you doing the whole process - get him on it. He needs to take responsibility and seek guidance from his school!! I barely saw DD’s application before it was sent off. I know it’s stressful but they’re 17/18 and the school will have the information regarding applying if he just seeks it out.