Reportable events
A ‘reportable event’ is an event or matter that registered higher education providers are required to report to us.
This page provides a short overview of reportable events. Full guidance can be found in Regulatory advice 16: reportable events.
What is a reportable event?
Reportable events generally concern matters that relate to a provider’s:
- eligibility for registration
- compliance with its conditions of registration
- eligibility for degree awarding powers or compliance with the criteria for degree awarding powers
- eligibility for university title.
Examples of events that are always reportable
- Mergers with other higher education providers.
- A change in ownership.
- A change in accountable officer or chair of the provider’s governing body.
- Deciding to stop delivering higher education in England.
- Deciding to fully or substantially cease providing higher education.
- Loss of the provider’s student sponsor licence.
- A new campus or closure of a campus.
- Termination of a partnership agreement.
- Any matter that affects the accuracy of the information contained on the OfS Register.
- Withdrawal of financial support underpinning the provider’s financial viability and sustainability.
- A likely breach of any financial covenant attached to a loan.
- A likely (forecast) drop in the provider's liquidity to below 30 days' average expenditure.1
There are some events or matters that a provider will need to make a judgement about whether a report is required or not.
That judgement may depend on a number of factors, including the size and complexity of the provider and the context in which an event or matter takes place.
Examples of events that are reportable where they are material
- Amendments to a provider's governing documents.
- A change in business model, for example focusing on further education instead of higher education.
- Legal or court action.
- Inaccuracies or omissions in data returns.
- Material changes in financial position or forecasts (see further details on the financial information we require from providers).
Regulatory advice 16 contains full guidance in determining what constitutes a reportable event.
Who can submit a reportable event
A provider's governing body is responsible for interactions between the provider and the OfS. They may decide to put arrangements in place so that their accountable officer or other senior officers can submit reportable events.
Students, staff members and others can’t submit a reportable event. Depending on the nature of their concern, they may be able to submit a notification to us.
When should events be reported?
Providers are required to report an event within five working days of the date that the event is identified or, if that is not possible due to exceptional circumstances, as soon as reasonably practicable.
This applies to events that providers have become aware of that will have an impact in the future, and events that have already happened.
Why events need to be reported
Reportable events, along with other routine information we receive about a provider, allow us to reliably assess the risk that a provider may breach its conditions of registration.
Relying on each provider to identify and report reportable events helps us to minimise the range of information we routinely collect from providers, reducing regulatory burden.
What happens when a reportable event is submitted
After a provider has submitted a reportable event, we will review the information and take one of the following steps:
- record the information but determine no further action is required
- decide that a more extensive assessment is required.
1 This is a reportable trigger only. 30 days' net liquidity should not be interpreted as an OfS recommended key performance indicator, guide or benchmark for how institutions should manage their cash and cashflow. Each institution is responsible for setting its own financial monitoring criteria and undertaking regular cashflow monitoring. These must be appropriate to the specific circumstances, strategy and the risk environment in which it is operating.
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