Access and participation plans

Access and participation plans set out how higher education providers will improve equality of opportunity for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access, succeed in, and progress from higher education.

They detail the intervention strategies and activities that providers will make to address risks to equality of opportunity over a four year period, and how they will measure and evaluate their impact. A university or college must have an access and participation plan if:

they are registered with the Office for Students in the 'Approved (fee cap)' category
they want to charge above the basic tuition fee cap.

We  have updated our guidance on access and participation plans. This follows our proposals to change the way we regulate equality of opportunity.

Read our blog on the launch of the next access and participation plans

What should a plan include?

A provider's access and participation plan sets out:

the risks to equality of opportunity that the provider has identified as relevant to their context, informed by the access and participation data dashboard and the Equality of Opportunity Risk Register
‘intervention strategies’ or the actions providers will take to challenge risks to equality of opportunity and the outcomes they expect to achieve
how the provider plans to evaluate the impact of their work
the investment providers plan to make on access and participation work.

Providers also publish a summary of their plan, which sets out key points in an accessible way.

Find an access and participation plan or access agreement

Published 12 December 2018
Last updated 07 December 2023 + show all updates

07 December 2023: Page updated to reflect new access and participation plans
29 March 2023: Page refreshed in line with our new approach to equality of opportunity
08 March 2023: Note about our approach to the submission of access and participation plans in 2023 added
06 October 2022: Added link to consultation on a new approach to regulating access and participation in English higher education
22 June 2022: Video added - 'What is an access and participation plan?'
12 April 2022: Link added to advice on variation requests to cover 2023-24 plans
15 March 2022: Page updated with new access and participation priorities
25 October 2021: Link added to new variation requests page
06 October 2021: Link added to National outreach coverage project targeting tool
20 April 2020: One link updated and minor wording updates

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Access and participation plans

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