Consultation on the OfS’s new free speech complaints scheme

Executive summary

Background

Freedom of speech and academic freedom are essential to higher education. The core mission of universities and colleges is the pursuit of knowledge, and the principles of free speech and academic freedom are fundamental to this purpose. They provide an environment to advance new ideas, encourage productive debate and challenge conventional wisdom. All staff and students are entitled to teach, learn and research in a culture that values vigorous debate, including in relation to difficult or contentious or uncomfortable topics. There is currently evidence to support concerns about freedom of speech in higher education: the 2023 National Student Survey (NSS) found that one in every seven students in England feels unable to express their own views.²

The OfS is an independent public body. We are not part of central government, but we report to Parliament through the Department for Education (DfE). We regulate higher education in England. Our primary aim is to ensure that English higher education is delivering positive outcomes for students – past, present, and future. We seek to ensure that students, from all backgrounds (particularly the most disadvantaged), can access, succeed in, and progress from, higher education. You can read more about how we currently regulate universities and colleges in England on our website.³

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 was passed earlier this year. When its provisions come into force, it will give the OfS more powers and duties to regulate universities and colleges, and their students’ unions, on free speech issues. You can read more about this on our website.⁴

Proposals for a new complaint scheme

The new legislation imposes several new duties on registered universities and colleges, on their constituent institutions (such as colleges of universities) and on some students’ unions. These include a duty to take steps to secure freedom of speech within the law.

The Act also requires the OfS to set up and operate a free speech complaints scheme. Under the scheme, past or present students, members, members of staff, applicants for academic posts and visiting speakers will be able to make complaints to the OfS about free speech issues. They will be able to complain about their university or college, constituent institution (such as colleges of universities) or students' union.

The free speech complaints scheme will be free to use. It is expected to operate from 1 August 2024. It will help us to achieve our strategic goal that ‘providers secure free speech within the law for students, staff and visiting speakers.’

In this consultation, we have set out proposals for how we will operate the new free speech complaints scheme. The proposals cover:

• who can make a complaint
• what and whom they can complain about
• complaints that we can review, including time limits for bringing a complaint. The OfS is proposing that individuals should normally raise their concerns with the relevant university, college, or students’ unions first, to give it an opportunity to put matters right. If the issues are not resolved after 30 days, then a complaint could be made to the OfS 
• how we will deal with a complaint. This includes proposals on how we will review and make decisions on complaints and how we may deal with group complaints
• what action we may take if we decide to uphold some or all of a complaint
• our approach to publishing information about complaints that we receive. These proposals set out what material we would normally expect to publish, and what we would not normally expect to publish, in connection with the operation and findings of the free speech complaints scheme.

Who should provide feedback on our proposals

We are particularly (but not only) interested in hearing from students, staff, students’ union representatives and leaders at providers that will be engaging in the new arrangements.⁵ We welcome views from all types and size of provider and students’ union. We also welcome the views of schools, employers, third sector organisations, policy bodies and others with an interest in freedom of speech in English higher education.

Feedback on the proposals can be given via the online survey⁶ or you can find out more at one of the consultation events.⁷

You may be interested in reading and responding to our consultation on our new approach to regulating students’ unions.⁸

Next steps

The consultation closed on 10 March 2024. We expect to consider the consultation responses and make decisions in respect of these proposals before 1 August 2024. We expect that the new complaints scheme will be in place by 1 August 2024 when the relevant provisions of the Act come into effect.

We expect to consult on further key elements of our implementation of the legislation. This will give providers, their staff and students and other interested parties an opportunity to inform our approach.

[2] For more information about the NSS and the 2023 results, see the NSS web pages.

[3] See the OfS website.

[4] For more information, see our freedom of speech web pages.

[5] We use the terms ‘providers’ and ‘registered providers’ to refer to registered higher education providers as specified on the OfS Register.

[6] See the consultation response form.

[7] See our freedom of speech consultation webinars.

[8] See our 'Consultation on the OfS’s approach to regulating students’ unions on free speech matters'.