This information is relevant to the following funding programmes:
This webpage explains how we are adapting our regulatory requirements to support providers and protect students during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Project monitoring
We understand that delivery of activities may reduce significantly and some may cease completely whilst this situation is ongoing.
We are also aware that most projects will be able to continue delivering in a different way.
We will be flexible regarding events, deliverables and deadlines, and work with you to agree appropriately amended timelines on a case-by-case basis.
We are still able to process project monitoring reports as planned, so if you do intend to submit an upcoming report, please do so in the usual way.
If your project is unable to report to us formally or in the same way as usual, we can discuss options with you.
We will use future monitoring and final reports to understand your approach during this period.
In line with our broader approach to regulation, we will take into account the circumstances and assess whether you have made reasonable decisions that take into account the needs of students.
Funding
Under normal circumstances the OfS is unable to pay in advance of need. We can be flexible during this period, but we also need to ensure that the funding we provide is used appropriately and is in the public and student interest.
We want to make sure that project staff continue to receive their salaries.
We also want to maintain your project’s capacity to increase or resume delivering activity once the crisis is over.
Evaluation
We are working with all our evaluators to understand the impact on their planned activities for external programme evaluations.
The OfS is following the government’s social research professional guidance that states all face-to-face evaluation and research activity should stop until it is safe and ethically appropriate to proceed.
This may have an impact on the evaluation of your programme. If you have any concerns or questions about your own evaluation of your project, please do let us know.
Next steps
During this period we are looking for ways to bring projects together virtually, to exchange useful information and provide mutual support.
We hope projects can share innovative models of delivery and engagement with each other and the OfS.
Read the letters about monitoring changes for funded projects
Contact details
Please use the following email address if you have queries on individual schemes. These inboxes are monitored throughout the working day and a member of the team will respond as soon as they can.
