Part 3: Proposals for changes to registration application requirements

1. We are consulting on changes to the requirements for a registration application to support the aims we have set out in this consultation.
2. These changes include making a decision to determine the requirements for a registration application by issuing a notice under section 3(5) of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 (HERA). This notice would set out new requirements for a registration application, including new information that a provider would need to submit as part of its registration application or during our assessment. The notice would supersede the existing registration guidance ¹ although we would publish updated guidance to sit alongside it.

1 See Regulatory advice 3: Registration of English higher education providers with the OfS.

3. Registration with the Office for Students (OfS) is an important part of the overall regulatory framework and the arrangements in place to ensure that students receive a high quality education and that students and taxpayers receive value for money. It unlocks significant benefits for providers, including access to public funding. It is therefore very important that only well-prepared, high quality and innovative providers are able to register and that such providers can register without undue burden or delay.
4. We think that more providers are likely to seek to apply for registration in the future due to the introduction of the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE) and the government’s proposals to require some providers delivering higher education within subcontractual partnerships to register with the OfS. We therefore also need to ensure our registration processes are as efficient as possible and enable high quality and innovative providers to enter the regulated sector smoothly.
5. Our experience of registration to date has demonstrated that many providers applying for registration invest considerable time, effort and resource in researching and understanding the regulatory environment for higher education in England and the OfS’s regulatory framework, and prepare carefully to meet the submission requirements so that their registration application is as straightforward as possible. However, we also receive registration applications that are under-prepared and missing key information. This can mean the application process becomes resource intensive for both the provider and the OfS.
6. We encounter the following issues during the registration assessment process that reduce the efficiency with which we can conduct assessments:
   1. Failure to submit a complete application, or an application of sufficient quality, in some cases due to a general failure to engage with the guidance available.
   2. Failure to provide additional or updated information later in the process in a timely manner. This can lead to considerable delays in completing the assessment of a registration application.
   3. Non-reporting, or late reporting, of matters that arise that could materially affect our assessment.
   4. Following closure of a provider’s application, the provider immediately resubmitting the same or a very similar application without having addressed the weaknesses in the original application.
7. These issues are currently occurring too frequently. Around 40 per cent of registration applications do not contain the information set out in our registration guidance when they are initially submitted. We think changes to the registration process are needed to enable and incentivise providers to submit high quality registration applications.
8. As we describe in the introduction to this consultation, the financial challenges facing the sector have increased. It is important that we are taking this into account when assessing a provider’s financial sustainability at registration. As a result, we have been routinely asking providers for specific information about financial risk during the registration process. We think that setting this out clearly in our registration processes will help providers to prepare for registration and improve overall efficiency.
9. Finally, the proposals set out in Parts 1 and 2 of this consultation, would result in changes to the information that would be required at registration if implemented.

10. We are proposing changes to make a decision under section 3(5) of HERA to prescribe requirements for registration applications. This would include specifying the information that must be provided as part of an application. We are also proposing to prevent a provider from reapplying for registration for a minimum period after refusal of a previous application. This would enable a provider to make changes and improvements to its application. These proposals are intended to provide greater certainty for applicants about what is expected and enable them to submit complete applications. We think these proposals would also enable us to refuse more easily applications that are not complete, increasing the efficiency of our registration processes and ensuring that we can use our resources to focus on well-prepared applications.
11. We are also proposing to require more up front information about a provider’s financial readiness to reflect the increased challenges the sector is facing. This will help providers to be ready and make the process more efficient.
12. For completeness, we have also shown the changes that would need to be made to registration processes if we decided to implement the proposed new initial conditions C5 and E7 (see Parts 2 and 3 of this consultation). We are consulting on these information requirements alongside the conditions themselves which are explained in Parts 1 and 2 of this consultation.
13. We are not proposing to make any changes to the assessment stages and sequence of the registration process.
14. We have included, as Annex C, alternative options we have considered. We welcome views on these alternatives alongside comments on our proposals. The overarching introduction to the consultation (Annex B: Matters to which we have had regard in reaching our proposals) sets out the matters to which we have had regard in formulating these proposals.²

2 See Introduction to the consultation on new registration conditions.

3 See Higher Education and Research Act 2017.

15. This consultation will close on 23 April 2025. The introduction to the consultation sets out how we would implement these proposals, including a proposed timetable.⁴

4 See: Proposal: how we would implement these proposals in this consultation.

In this consultation we refer to the following documents:

Regulatory framework for higher education in England. This publication sets out the OfS’s approach to regulation of English higher education providers.

Consultation on OfS strategy for 2025 to 2030.This consultation on the OfS’s strategy for 2025 to 2030 runs from 12 December 2024 to 20 February 2025.

Regulatory advice 3: Registration of English higher education providers with the OfS. This regulatory advice sets out guidance for providers of higher education in England that want to apply to register with the OfS.

Guidance for providers about the financial information to submit with a registration application and Template for financial and student number tables (available alongside Regulatory advice 3). These documents explain what financial information must be submitted as part of an application to register with the OfS.

Regulatory advice 14: Guidance for providers for the Annual Financial Return. This regulatory advice sets out guidance about the information that a provider is required to submit as part of its financial monitoring returns to the OfS.

Regulatory advice 16: Reportable events. This document provides guidance for registered providers about the events or matters they are required to report to the OfS.

Regulatory advice 21: Publication of information. This regulatory advice sets out guidance for higher education providers in England on the approach we will take to the publication of information about providers.

Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: 2024. This report, published in May 2024, sets out our impartial, independent view of the financial condition of the higher education sector and its resilience to financial challenge.

Financial sustainability of higher education providers in England: November 2024 update. This report provides an update on the financial sustainability of higher education institutions, six months on from the annual report the OfS published in May 2024.

Regulatory notice 1: Access and participation plan guidance. This regulatory notice sets out guidance for higher education providers in England on the preparation of an access and participation plan.