Consultation on proposals to change how the Office for Students regulates further education colleges in England

Anyone with an interest in the regulation of further education colleges.

We welcome the views of all types and sizes of higher education provider and are particularly (but not only) interested in hearing from: students, staff, academics and leaders at further education colleges currently offering higher education, or plan to offer higher education in the future.

Please respond by 10 February 2026.

Please use the online response form.

We will summarise and/or publish the responses to this consultation on the OfS website (and in alternative formats on request). This may include a list of the providers and organisations that respond, but not personal data such as individuals’ names, addresses or other contact details.

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please tell us but be aware that we cannot guarantee confidentiality in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not be regarded by us as a confidentiality request.

We will process any personal data received in accordance with all applicable data protection laws (see our privacy policy).

We may need to disclose or publish information that you provide in the performance of our functions, or disclose it to other organisations for the purposes of their functions. Information (including personal data) may also need to be disclosed in accordance with UK legislation (such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Data Protection Act 2018 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004).

We will publish a summary of responses to this consultation in early summer. We will explain how and why we have arrived at our decisions, and how we have addressed any concerns raised by respondents. We will then set out next steps in the policy and implementation process.