Regulatory advice 6: How to prepare your access and participation plan - effective practice advice
The aim of this regulatory advice is to support a provider in creating a clear and effective access and participation plan. This advice sets out further information about the ways in which a provider can meet the requirements and expectations set out in Regulatory notice 1.
The guidance applies in respect of applications for the approval of access and participation plans (and related matters) for the academic year starting 2025-26 until it is revoked, varied or replaced.
Most other providers will submit new plans in 2024, which would take effect from the 2025-26 academic year.
- Ref:
- OfS 2023.66
- Date:
- 7 December 2023
This guidance must be read in conjunction with Regulatory notice 1.
Effective practice
See detailed information on student groups where there are differences in equality of opportunity and effective practice on key topics.
Supporting documents
We updated Annex C and Annex G on 28 March 2024 to make it easier for users of the templates to meet web content accessibility guidelines in the final published plans.
Archive
| Published | Document |
|---|---|
| May 2023 | Regulatory advice 6: How to prepare your access and participation plan - effective practice advice (OfS 2023.21) |
| February 2019 | Regulatory advice 6: How to prepare your access and participation plan (OfS 2019.06) |
| March 2018 | Regulatory advice 6: Good practice advice on the preparation of access and participation plans for 2019-20 (OfS 2018.06) |
| Published | Document |
|---|---|
| December 2023 |
We updated Annex C and Annex G in March 2024 to make it easier for users of these documents to comply with accessibility guidelines. The previously published versions are: Annex C: Access and participation plan template (DOCX, 49Kb) |
28 March 2024 - Updated Annex C and Annex G to make it easier for users of these templates to comply with web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.1) in their final published plans.
07 December 2023 - The guidance has been updated following feedback from providers.
18 May 2023 - Guidance updated and new annexes published.
29 March 2023 - Note that the outcomes of our consultation on a new approach to regulating equality of opportunity have been published
08 March 2023 - Note about our approach to the submission of access and participation plans in 2023 added
06 October 2022 - Link to our consultation on a new approach to regulating equality of opportunity in English higher education added
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