The UK Government has announced a new complaints system that it says will protect freedom of speech and academic freedom across universities.

The Office for Students (OfS) will run the scheme for university staff, external speakers and non-student members to raise concerns about higher education providers that fail to protect freedom of speech.

As part of the complaints system, the higher education regulator will investigate claims and recommend that universities review decisions, pay compensation or alter their processes.  

Regulations will be published in June 2026 and come into effect for the new academic year in September. The OfS will be able to issue fines from April 2027.

Trish D’Souza, Legal Director at UK and Ireland law firm Browne Jacobson, said: “A complaints scheme was initially proposed under the previous government but was dropped by Labour when it came into power. It seems that due to pressure following high-profile freedom of speech cases involving university staff, the current government wishes to ensure that staff members and non-student staff have recourse to a complaints scheme if they have concerns.

“It would perhaps have made more sense to await the outcome of the University of Sussex’s judicial review in the High Court against the Office for Students’ decision to impose a fine of £585,000 – over concerns that it may not have complied, or acted compatibly, with regulatory obligations including upholding freedom of speech – before deciding on the direction of travel for future freedom of speech claims.

“Considering there are already complaints routes available to students (via the Office of the Independent Adjudicator) and staff (internal grievances), these new measures may feel like a sledgehammer is being used to crack a nut. This could risk limiting the autonomy of higher education bodies and result in conflicting or overlapping procedures.

“Given that fines could reach hundreds of thousands of pounds, or even millions, it’s crucial that universities quickly get to grips with understanding what this new complaints scheme will involve and how it interacts with existing grievance processes, where there may be significant overlap.”