Access and participation plans

What are access and participation plans?

Access and participation plans set out how higher education providers will improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education.

They include:

the provider’s ambition for change
what it plans to do to achieve that change
the targets it has set
the investment it will make to deliver the plan.

The OfS monitors access and participation plans to make sure that the providers honour the commitments they make to students in these plans, and take action if they do not.

Access and participation plan guidance

Access and participation plan guidance (Regulatory notice 1)
How to prepare your access and participation plan (Regulatory advice 6)
Effective practice
When to submit plans
Variation requests

Supporting documents

Find an access and participation plan or access agreement

If providers want to charge higher level tuition fees, their plans must be approved by the Director for Fair Access and Participation.

If they do not have this approval, they may not charge higher level fees (the exact threshold varies according to their Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework rating).

How long do access and participation plans last?

From 2020-21, plans will last no longer than five years. For example, a plan may be in force from 2020-21 to 2024-25.

The OfS may require a provider to submit a new plan before this if they are not making the progress we expect. The plans relate to the cohorts of students the provider will register in the five years from the point at which the plan starts.

Access agreements approved by the Director for Fair Access for academic years up to and including 2018-19, and access and participation plans for 2019-20, remain in force for students covered by those agreements.

Who has to have an access and participation plan?

A provider must have an access and participation plan if:

they are registered with the OfS
charge above the basic tuition fee cap.

Higher education providers will need to produce an access and participation plan for 2021-22 if they do not have an approved 2020-21 plan that was approved for more than one year and are:

a higher education provider in England

and

are registered or are applying to be registered with the OfS in the ‘Approved (fee cap)’

and

are intending to charge fees above the basic amount for qualifying students on any qualifying course in 2021-22.

Providers which are registered – or plan to register – with the OfS but don’t need to have an access and participation plan, must still produce and publish an access and participation statement.

See more about registering with the OfS

See details on access and participation statements

I need to develop an access and participation plan. How do I start?

We have published guidance documents to help providers. These include:

Access and participation plan guidance
This sets out what must be included in an access and participation plan and details about how plans are assessed by the OfS.
How to prepare your access and participation plan: Effective practice advice
This guidance supports providers with how to write an access and participation plan and suggests effective practice to help providers achieve the ambitions set out in their plan.

Providers will also need to submit two extra pieces of supporting evidence:

Fee information
Targets and investment plan.

The templates for submitting this evidence are available from the OfS provider portal.

Please email [email protected] for further information and to receive these templates.

I’m a student. How can I get involved in access and participation plans?

We encourage students to get involved in their provider’s access and participation plan.

To get involved, they can start by contacting the department in their provider that is responsible for the access and participation plan.

Students can also get involved in the activities that support their provider’s plans. For example, work to improve equality of opportunity, or outreach activity.

We strongly encourage students, student unions and student representatives to comment on the way their providers have consulted and involved them in their provider’s access and participation work. They can do this by providing a statement within a provider’s access and participation plan or by a separate submission alongside the plan.

See more about how to get involved

Also see our information on How to prepare your access and participation plan: Effective practice advice

How can I find access agreements from 2019-20 and earlier?

Students who started their course in 2019-20 or earlier can search for their provider’s access and participation plans or access agreements.

Students who started their higher education course in 2018-19 or earlier will be covered by their provider’s access agreement approved by the Director for Fair Access. The OfS will continue to regulate these agreements.

Events

We held a series of webinars on different aspects of writing access and participation plans.

Watch the webinars

Published 12 December 2018
Last updated 25 October 2021 + show all updates

25 October 2021: Link added to new variation requests page
06 October 2021: Link added to National outreach coverage project targeting tool
20 April 2020: One link updated and minor wording updates

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Access and participation plans

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