Regulatory advice 16: Reportable events

This document provides guidance for registered providers about the events or matters they are required to report to the Office for Students (OfS). These are called ‘reportable events’ and are defined in paragraph 494 of the regulatory framework.

Ref:: OfS 2021.44
Date:: 20 October 2021
To:: All higher education providers registered with the OfS

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Guidance for registered providers

Please note: This guidance is effective from 1 January 2022.

Frequently asked questions

Do the revised reporting requirements have retrospective effect? Do providers need to do ‘catch up’ reporting on 1 January 2022 when the revised requirements come into effect?

Our revised reporting requirements are not intended to have retrospective effect. Events or matters that occurred during the period when our reduced reporting requirements (under the coronavirus pandemic guidance) were in place, but were not reportable at the time, will not need to be reported under our revised requirements.

From 1 January 2022, providers should consider the revised definition of a reportable event and our revised guidance in Regulatory Advice 16, to determine whether events or matters, including any that are ongoing as at 1 January, are reportable.

Regulatory Advice 16 contains a list of illustrative examples in Annex A that can be used to help determine whether an event or matter is reportable. For example, if a provider is undergoing a management and governance review which started in 2021 but is still ongoing as at 1 January 2022, it may wish to consider the example in row f(v) in Table 1 of Annex A (‘Initiation of a governance review….’), in deciding whether that matter should be reported under our revised arrangements.

Similarly, where a provider has entered into, or terminated, partnerships before 1 January 2022, those matters will not, of themselves, be reportable under our revised reporting requirements. However, providers would need to consider whether there are any ongoing issues or matters relating to those partnership changes which otherwise fall within the scope of our revised reporting requirements from 1 January.

Previous guidance

Regulatory advice 16 was originally published on 15 October 2019 (as OfS 2019.40).

Regulatory advice 16: Reportable events (published October 2019)

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Guidance for OfS-registered providers on reportable events

Annex B: Additional guidance (published October 2019)

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Additional guidance on the submission of specific types of reportable event

Published 09 October 2019
Last updated 19 November 2021 + show all updates

19 November 2021: Frequently asked question added
20 October 2021: Updated version published which applies from 1 January 2022
05 March 2021: Updated to reflect the closed consultation
28 January 2021: Added link to guidance on reportable events during the coronavirus pandemic
15 December 2020: Details added about the consultation on reportable events and revisions to this guidance.

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Regulatory advice 16: Reportable events

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