Reducing regulatory burden

This page explains some of the actions we have taken to minimise regulatory burden on providers.

A risk-based, data-driven approach

We are a risk-based regulator. This means we use information from routine data returns, as well as other information from the provider or via third parties, to assess the risk of a provider breaching one of our conditions of registration.

This risk-based, data-driven approach means that the regulatory burden placed on providers not at risk of breaching one or more of our conditions is minimised. We focus our regulatory attention on those providers most at risk, and where there is mostly likely to be an impact on students.

Minimising routine assessments

We expect providers that are closing gaps in student access, success and progression to submit their access and participation plans to us only every five years.

We have suspended our plans to randomly sample providers to assess their continuing compliance with our conditions of registration.

Removing unnecessary data requirements

We no longer require providers to submit data about their estates or non-academic staff.

We do not require providers to submit a TRAC(T) return for 2019-20 – and, working with our partners, we will review the burden and effectiveness of the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) process.

We have removed, where appropriate, the enhanced monitoring requirements we imposed at initial registration – and we expect our use of enhanced monitoring to reduce further.

Working efficiently

We have committed to reducing the fees that registered providers pay to us by 10 per cent in real terms by 2022-23.