OfS proposes plans to simplify rules for further education colleges

The Office for Students (OfS) has outlined plans to simplify how it regulates further education colleges in England by removing some requirements that overlap with Department for Education (DfE) oversight. 

The regulator has opened a consultation on the proposed changes, which focus on reducing duplication while maintaining protections for students and public funding.

Under the plan, further education colleges that offer higher education courses and are registered with the OfS would no longer be subject to five initial registration conditions and four ongoing conditions where the Department for Education already conducts robust checks. 

The proposal includes disapplying condition A2, which requires colleges to publish an access and participation statement.

The OfS said the Department for Education already asks colleges to show how they remove barriers to participation, support disadvantaged learners and improve outcomes for groups that are underrepresented in higher education. Condition A1 – which applies to institutions charging fees above the basic amount and requires them to operate an OfS-approved access and participation plan – would remain in place.

Other changes would apply only to colleges that do not hold and are not seeking degree awarding powers and are already regulated by the Department for Education. This would include applicants newly seeking OfS registration. For these institutions, the regulator proposes to disapply conditions covering financial viability and sustainability, as well as a series of rules on management and governance.

The consultation follows wider reforms to the OfS registration process announced earlier this year in August. Those changes introduced new initial conditions on fair treatment of students and effective governance to support a more efficient route into the regulated higher education sector.

Philippa Pickford, director of regulation at the OfS, said: “Further education colleges play an important role in providing flexible and diverse higher education pathways for students. Registering with us enables colleges to access public funding and give students confidence that their institution meets our requirements for quality, student protection, and support.

“However, colleges have told us that the complex regulatory landscape that they must navigate can be a barrier to offering higher education courses. We also anticipate that the sector will expand when the government launches the Lifelong Learning Entitlement (LLE). In disapplying requirements where DfE already has robust oversight, we hope to make the registration process as smooth as possible for these institutions and ensure our regulation remains proportionate and risk-based.”

She added: “We encourage anyone with an interest in the regulation of further education colleges to tell us what they think of our proposals. We are particularly interested in hearing from students, staff, academics and leaders at further education colleges currently offering higher education courses or are planning to do so in the future.”