About our core regulatory teams

Our core regulatory teams work with and support the higher education providers we regulate.

When a provider registers with us, we assign it to one of six core regulatory teams. Each team supports around 70 providers.

Each providers is given a named contact within this team who can be contacted for any queries, The named contact is usually the head of the core regulatory team, though providers may be contacted by other members of the assigned team.

By working with a small group of the providers we regulate, core regulatory teams build up expert knowledge of their assigned providers and the different contexts in which they are operating.

What do core regulatory teams do?

Our core regulatory teams assess any incoming information about a provider. This includes reportable events, notifications from a third party, financial returns and other data returns.

They will engage with a provider if any of the information needs clarification or gives us cause for concern. The team will often call or email the provider to better understand its individual circumstances, before considering whether we need to intervene.

For complex or long-running issues, a core regulatory team will continue to work with a provider until the regulatory risk has been resolved.

Where necessary, the core regulatory team will liaise with other teams at the Office for Students – for example, our data analysts or funding teams – to gather additional information or seek advice on complex matters.

How to contact your core regulatory team

Providers should contact [email protected] in the first instance. From there, we'll make sure your email reaches your core regulatory team.

Accountable officers can find their named OfS contact – the head of the relevant core regulatory team – in the regular emails sent by our chief executive.