Consultation on the OfS’s new free speech complaints scheme

Proposals

36. Under new legislation, the OfS will operate a new free speech complaints scheme. Under the scheme, the OfS will consider free speech complaints about providers, constituent institutions or relevant students’ unions. It will consider complaints from current or former students, members, members of staff, applicants for academic posts or (actual or invited) visiting speakers. We expect the scheme to operate from 1 August 2024.
37. In these proposals, and in the proposed scheme rules, we refer to the organisation being complained about as the ‘respondent’. We refer to the person making the complaint as the ‘complainant’.
38. Our proposed rules for the scheme are at Annex B. The rules are divided into sections. Proposals A-O describe proposed sections. Proposal P sets out proposals relating to the publication of information about the scheme. Section T of the proposed rules includes definitions of various terms that appear in the rules and in this consultation.