OfS consultation C6: treating students fairly

The interactions and arrangements between students / prospective students and higher education providers already fall within a range of legal and regulatory obligations. Consumer law compliance is a significant part of this, and in England this is further supported by the Office for Students’ Regulatory Framework, particularly the “C” conditions of registration. These legal and regulatory obligations are relevant at all stages, including marketing/advertising, student recruitment and applications, education provision etc. They apply to relevant processes and provisions such as student contracts (including offers), website information, complaints procedures, changes to courses, and provision of information to students and prospective students.

The OfS’s consultation on proposed ongoing condition of registration C6 sets out significant further proposed requirements which would also replace the existing C1 (consumer law) and C3 (student protection plan) conditions. The proposed overarching obligation in C6 is a requirement to “treat each student fairly in relation to any activities that are connected with the provision of higher education and/or ancillary services.” which is further supported by additional detailed requirements. Some of the proposed requirements are similar to existing obligations, but the proposed condition goes further in some areas and includes more proactive requirements.  

Scope

The condition would apply to a broad range of provision “by or on behalf of” a registered provider, including higher education provided through partnerships with other institutions. This would also include transnational education arrangements and to the activities of agents engaged by providers. C6 would also apply to a range of “ancillary services” provided by or on behalf of the provider as part of the higher education experience. The OfS proposes that such services would include but not be limited to library services, disability support packages, scholarships, accommodation and sports facilities.

Principles and prohibited behaviours

The overarching obligation is supported by a number of principles:

1. Promoting students’ understanding of their consumer rights;
2. Proactively identifying and planning for risks and acting early if those risks materialise;
3. Enabling students to access timely, clear and effective advice to navigate complaints handling and redress processes;
4. Delivering on “commitments” – which can include written, verbal or visual information provided to students or prospective students;
5. Acting in good faith;
6. Delivering services with reasonable care and skill;
7. Meeting the requirements in the OfS information requirements list.

The requirements under these principles are further outlined in the proposals; some of them incorporate a “reasonableness” element.

The OfS information requirements list contains various detailed requirements on providers in respect of:

• Clarity and accuracy of information;
• Provision of information, with detailed requirements in relation to “invitations to purchase” and “information necessary to make informed decisions”.

The proposals also specify that a provider will be deemed not to satisfy the overarching obligation if in the OfS’s reasonable opinion the provider’s actions or omissions either:

• fall within the OfS’s “prohibited behaviours list” (which notably exceeds in some instances the current legislative requirements); or
• the provider (or another party acting on its behalf) uses any aggressive commercial practices (“including but not limited to harassment, coercion, or undue influence”).

In broad terms the prohibited behaviours list covers a range of matters relating to areas such as:

• provisions in “key documents” which include documents with a contractual effect and specified course change, refund and complaints policies;
• providing inaccurate or false information;
• policies / provisions relating to changes to courses;
• provisions in complaints, refund and compensation policies and processes;
• fake reviews.

The requirements are further detailed - for example where a provider has accepted/signed a code of conduct, failure to adhere to the code may fall within scope.

Publication requirement

The proposals would also require a provider to maintain a single webpage containing specified wording concerning arrangements for student protection, as well as links to other relevant documents including contracts, policies and a list of any student recruitment agents used by the provider. These documents would need to be clear and accessible to students. There are further detailed requirements in the proposed condition, for example requirements to clearly identify and make accessible the relevant historic version of contracts, policies and processes.  

Next steps

The proposals will require a renewed compliance and due diligence focus across the range of a provider’s activities, including any partnerships, transnational education and use of external agents.

The OfS proposes that the condition will come into effect when the final version is published, likely in Autumn 2026, with the publication requirements coming into effect three months later to allow providers some time to prepare. The consultation closes on 9 July 2026.

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