Office for Students (OfS) Free Speech Complaints Scheme

The OfS has published rules for the new freedom of speech complaints scheme which opens on 1 September. The scheme is not retrospective and only applies to registered providers and their constituent institutions. Alongside this document, the OfS has also amended and clarified its freedom of speech guidance, initially published in June 2025, in response to the University of Sussex judgment.

Full details of the complaints scheme can be found at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/x1afzxve/free-speech-complaints-scheme-rules-2026.pdf

OfS freedom of speech guidance can be found at: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/g3agsas0/regulatory-advice-24-freedom-of-speech-guidance-august-2026.pdf

At-a-glance:

• 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. The scheme is free to use (p2)
• Students cannot raise a complaint under this scheme. Students should first raise any complaint, including about free speech, with their university or college. Where this does not resolve the matter, students can take the complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator
• The OfS will normally only accept a complaint if any existing internal disciplinary, complaints, appeals or grievance procedure under which the issues in the complaint could be or are being considered have been completed, or once 90 days have elapsed since that process began (p3)
• A free speech complaint judged to be frivolous or vexatious will be dismissed. The OfS expects to complete most complaint reviews within six months and to publish details of its findings regardless of the outcome (p3). These details will normally include: information about the complaint, including the identity of the provider, a decision on the free speech complaint (justified, partly justified or not justified), and any recommendations that the OfS makes in relation to the complaint.
• Where the regulator finds a complaint is justified or partly justified, it can make recommendations. This could include payment of sums, reinstatement of a research programme or a re-invitation to a visiting speaker (p7). The OfS may require the respondent to pay the regulator’s costs in relation to making the decision up to the date of notification (p9)
• A free speech complaint must normally be submitted to the OfS, in writing via a complaint form, within 12 months of the date on which the action or inaction being complained about last occurred. Anonymous complaints cannot be reviewed (p3)
• Where appropriate the OfS may have one or more face-to-face meetings with the complainant and/or the respondent and/or other persons it considers may have information or expertise relevant to the complaint. It may allow, the complainant, the respondent and/or those other persons to ask each other questions at a meeting (p5)
• Where a free speech complaint concerns academic judgement, the OfS may seek expert academic judgement (p5)
• When a decision on the complaint is made by the OfS, it will issue a Notice of Complaint outcome to the complainant and respondent which states whether the free speech complaint is justified, partly justified or not justified, and the reasons for this (p6)
• Where both parties have agreed to settle and the complainant has consequently withdrawn their complaint, the OfS will not make a decision or issue a notice of complaint outcome (p6)
• Where the OfS decides it cannot review a complaint, a complainant can appeal. Reconsideration can also be requested in any circumstance where the OfS has dismissed a complaint. This request must be made within 28 days of a decision being issued (p8)
• If an institution fails to comply with a requirement imposed by or under these rules and does not satisfy the OfS that it is unable to comply, the regulator may enforce the requirement in civil proceedings for an injunction (p8)
• Registered providers should publicise the scheme from 1 September 2026 and no later than 1 January 2027 (p9)
• In updates to its freedom of speech guidance, the principal substantive change is to the decision-making framework which places greater emphasis on a proportionality analysis and reflects lessons from the University of Sussex judgment (p7, Regulatory advice 24: Guidance related to freedom of speech).
• Additionally, the OfS has introduced one new example, 24A, which relates to freedom of speech duties in relation to student work placements. Minor amendments have also been made to examples 35, 38, 40 and 47 to illustrate proportionate interferences with speech (Regulatory advice 24: Guidance related to freedom of speech)

Implications for governance:

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act introduced in 2023 allows for a complaints scheme to be operated which offers a route to resolution where staff, visiting speakers and others have complaints that their free speech rights have been constrained.

Governors will already be familiar with the OfS regulatory guidance related to freedom of speech, issued in 2025, which gives examples of “reasonably practicable” steps that providers must take to secure freedom of speech. It is an important document in helping institutions understand their duties under the Act, what they must do and where restrictions may be lawful and proportionate.

Where staff and visitors perceive that these freedoms have been constrained unlawfully, they can now make a complaint to the OfS.

The complaint scheme rules set out in detail who can make a complaint, what kind of complaints will be reviewed by the OfS, timescales and possible outcomes.

Of interest to governors will be the expectations that the OfS places on providers against which a complaint is made (which are called “respondents” in the document). Respondents will be consulted by the OfS as soon as a complaint is made and asked for their views. Answers to further questions and face to face meetings with the OfS, complainants and other parties may also be required.

It is important to note that the OfS will normally only accept a complaint if any existing internal disciplinary, complaints, appeals or grievance procedure under which the issues in the complaint could be or are being considered have been completed, or after a 90 day period. Governors may want to consider if this stipulation applies to their internal policies and procedures and the timescales involved in bringing these to a conclusion.

According to the OfS, many universities have already updated their governance documents, codes of practice, and internal procedures to align with the launch of the free speech complaints scheme next month.

In the press release accompanying the details about the scheme, Arif Ahmed, Director for Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom at the OfS, said that in recent months he had met with many vice chancellors and other senior staff to discuss freedom of speech issues at their institutions and that in many cases, this work has helped to resolve a number of potentially complex free speech issues without the need for further regulatory action. Updates to the guidance have also been informed by the outcome of the University of Sussex judicial review, as a result of which the guidance’s decision-making framework has been updated to reflect a greater consideration of “proportionality” and a more narrow definition of academic freedom applied throughout.

Boards will be reassured that complaints will not be taken purely at face value. The document lays out where complaints may be considered “frivolous or vexatious” or “trivial”, including: where the complainant provides no new information to that set out in a previously submitted complaint under the scheme; they continually change the substance of a complaint; or they act aggressively or abusively towards the OfS or make unreasonable demands on it. Failure to clearly identify issues or matters that are the subject of the complaint is also grounds for treating it as frivolous or vexatious, as is the complainant missing deadlines. 

The OfS rules also indicate that institutions will be consulted throughout the process, including when the regulator is deciding the extent to which a free speech complaint is justified, whether to make any recommendations and what to publish in relation to the free speech complaint. Institutions will also be consulted about whether the OfS will require the respondent to pay any costs in relation to making the decision, and the calculation of those costs.

The OfS document about the scheme and the accompanying press release do not mention compensation payments to complainants, despite a reference to this in a government statement about the scheme, published in April, and in much of the subsequent media coverage. The document does say, however, that any OfS recommendation in relation to an upheld complaint “may include the payment of sums”. It does not clarify if this “sum” might refer to OfS costs or to compensation.

OfS requirements for publicising the new scheme could mean institutions having to edit various governance documents. References to the scheme should be included in: staff appointment and induction materials; free speech code of practice and any process or procedure for managing speaking events and internal or external speakers; and any disciplinary, complaints, appeals, grievance or similar internal review processes. A suggested paragraph of text for providers to include in various documents is provided. Institutions will also need to ensure that the updated decision-making framework is reflected in relevant codes of practice, policies and processes.

At least once a year, the scheme should be brought to the attention of non-student members and members of staff, the document stipulates.