OfS publishes rules and updates guidance ahead of freedom of speech complaints scheme launch

Alongside the complaints scheme rules, the OfS has amended and clarified its freedom of speech guidance in response to the University of Sussex judgment.

The complaints scheme rules confirm that staff (including academics and applicants to academic posts), visiting speakers and others including emeritus professors, can make a complaint to the OfS where they believe their free speech rights have been infringed. Students can continue to make free speech complaints through the established channel of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, an independent body set up to review student complaints.

The OfS scheme is free to use. Where the OfS finds in favour of a complainant, it can make recommendations which could include reinstatement of a research programme or a re-invitation of a visiting speaker. The OfS expects to publish details of its findings. While the complaints scheme is new and timelines are as yet untested, the OfS expects to complete most complaint reviews within six months.

Minor updates to the regulatory guidance in response to the judgment include amending the three-step framework to help universities and colleges assess whether restrictions on lawful speech are justified. A small number of practical examples have been amended – and one added – to help illustrate the updates. The OfS is also making explicit in the guidance some public clarifications that have been made since initial publication in 2025.

Arif Ahmed, Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the OfS, said:

‘The core mission of higher education is the pursuit of knowledge. Freedom of speech and academic freedom are fundamental to that mission.

‘The complaints scheme offers an important route to resolution where staff, visiting speakers and others have their free speech rights constrained. The OfS will judge complaints in a fair and timely manner, setting out recommendations for redress where we uphold complaints. I know universities and colleges have already done much to prepare for the launch of the scheme, and I hope today’s additional information provides assistance ahead of the new academic year and the launch of the scheme.

‘Since the Sussex judgment, we have been carefully reflecting on our approach to protecting freedom of speech in higher education. Today’s amendments to our regulatory guidance take account of that judgment. Following earlier public clarifications, we are also making explicit some additional points on the scope of the duty and the interaction with the European Convention on Human Rights.

‘In recent months I have met with many vice chancellors and other senior staff to discuss freedom of speech issues at their institutions. In many cases this work has helped to resolve a number of potentially complex free speech issues without the need for further regulatory action. I continue to welcome these conversations.’

Notes

1. The Office for Students is the independent regulator for higher education in England. Our strategy for 2025 to 2030 seeks to ensure that students from all backgrounds benefit from high quality higher education, delivered by a diverse, sustainable sector that continues to improve.
2. Alongside the updated guidance and complaints scheme rules, the OfS has also published a response to the consultation on the scheme rules originally held in 2023-24, and an independent summary of the consultation responses by Pye Tait. See the analysis reports.
3. In our updated guidance, we have introduced one new example 24A, and made minor amendments to examples 35, 38, 40 and 47 to illustrate proportionate interferences with speech.