Following consultation, the Government has outlined how it intends to strengthen the regulation of franchised delivery providers.
The main headline (in England) is that unregistered providers with 300 or more students (unless exempt) will have to apply for OfS registration in order for their courses to be eligible for student finance for new students in 2028/2029.
Broadly, the exemptions will cover:
- state-funded schools
- some specific types of further education providers
- providers of NHS services
- Police and Crime Commissioners
- local authorities and Mayoral Combined Authorities
- government departments
- the armed forces
The consultation outcome sets out various further provisions and detail on how the requirements will apply, including various example scenarios. The scheme will for example provide that unregistered franchised providers exceeding the student number threshold will lose a year of eligibility for student finance for new students, regardless of whether they have registered with the OfS in the interim.
A two-year transition period will allow unregistered franchised providers to appeal designation decisions made in September 2027 and September 2028, but only where there is evidence that student numbers were below the threshold in the year prior to the designation decision.
Regulations are due to be published in April 2026, and will come into force in May 2026 subject to Parliamentary approval. It is also possible that further guidance may be issued.
During the two year transition period, the proposed implementation timetable for the first “implementation year” is:
Midnight on 30 June 2026: Submission deadline for unregistered franchised providers to submit their registration application to the OfS to be considered ‘in good time’.
September 2027: DfE will send its preliminary decision to lead and franchised providers on whether the course/s delivered by the franchised providers will be designated for student finance in 2028/29.
October 2027: Appeal period for franchised providers
November 2027: DfE issues final decision and publishes a list of approved franchise providers.
August 2028: Start of the first “implementation year”
There will be a similar timetable in the second year of the transition period. It is proposed that from the third year onwards there will be a shorter process; DfE will make decisions on designation for student finance in 2030/31 in September 2029, issuing final decisions and publishing the list of approved providers in October 2029.
A package of reforms
These changes are part of a broader reform package intended to tighten regulation of franchised provision due to concerns about some provision having been being of poor quality, potential abuse of the student finance system and other poor practices.
Separately to the DfE consultation, the OfS has consulted on draft condition E8 that will apply in specified circumstances to lead providers, as outlined in previous blogs. Current indications are that the OfS will publish the response to its consultation in the first part of 2026.
If you missed our 10 December webinar on franchising, you can view the recording here. The webinar looked at some key elements of the OfS’s proposed condition of registration, as well as some thoughts on how the OfS’s requirements concerning harassment, sexual misconduct and freedom of speech interact with franchising arrangements.
Our content explained
Every piece of content we create is correct on the date it’s published but please don’t rely on it as legal advice. If you’d like to speak to us about your own legal requirements, please contact one of our expert lawyers.