New university free speech complaints system to come into force this year
A new free speech complaints system for universities in England will come into force next academic year, the government has said.
The new system will allow academics and other university staff to lodge complaints directly with the Office for Students (OfS).
Then, from April 2027, universities could face fines of £500,000 or 2% of their income if they are found to have failed to protect freedom of expression.
Education Minister Bridget Phillipson said “Freedom of expression is fundamental to the success of every university” but “there were too many cases that contributed to an unacceptable culture of fear and hindered the pursuit of knowledge”.
The new system will not be open to students, who can still report their concerns to their university and then to an independent referee.
Stronger legislation on freedom of expression on UK campuses came into force in August 2025, but the complaints system element has been delayed.
The Labor government has scrapped the first proposal to allow individuals to bring legal action against universities in civil courts.
The lack of a complaint system forced academics to resort to other means such as labor courts.
The government will announce more details about the new complaints system later on Monday.
Initially, the OfS will be able to review how an incident was handled, tell universities to change their processes around freedom of expression and direct universities to pay compensation to those affected.
Significant fines, including 2% of a university’s revenue, can mean fines of up to millions for some.
While income varies, the annual income for a medium to large-sized university can start from around £500 million and go up to billions for the highest profile institutions.
This significantly increases the likelihood of punishment £585,000 awarded to the University of Sussex in March 2025 – mainly due to its transgender and non-binary inclusion policy, which the regulator said had a “chilling effect” on freedom of expression.
Sussex strongly disputed the claim that it did not support freedom of expression and Appeal against fine in the Supreme CourtIn a case involving rather vague arguments about the regulator’s powers. The decision in this case is expected within the next few weeks.
The Free Speech Union (FSU) said nearly one in 10 of the more than 5,700 cases it has fought in the past six years involved universities’ “failure to protect freedom of expression.”
Under these new provisions, the OfS will theoretically have the power to remove the right to provide university-level education, although this is likely to remain a threat rather than a reality.
Universities UK (UUK), the body lobbying for the sector, said it was important that the new powers were used in a “fair, transparent and proportionate” way.
Manchester Metropolitan University Vice-Chancellor Professor Malcolm Press called for a cautious approach. “Protecting freedom of expression while preventing harassment, hate speech and radicalization are complex tasks that involve well-balanced decisions,” he said.
While universities have long had a duty to support freedom of expression, these stronger powers were first proposed under the last Conservative government and are now being gradually introduced in a modified form.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said universities were “subject to censorship with no clear means of redress”.
“Research has been silenced, controversial studies have been shelved, and universities have managed to evade accountability,” he said.
In 2024, Prof Jo Phoenix won an unfair dismissal case against the Open University for failing to defend her views critical of gender equality.
Earlier this year, leading music conservatory Trinity Laban reached an out-of-court settlement with jazz musician Martin Speake, who criticized Black Lives Matter and critical race theory.
Another high-profile academic Prof Alice Sullivan has taken legal action against the University of Bristol.
China’s influence on freedom of expression, including academic research, has also been a cause for concern due to the financial significance of higher international tuition fees to universities for Chinese students.
One row over Human rights research at Sheffield Hallam University brought the issues to the public agenda.
The new system will not take these historical cases into account.
Reform’s Suella Braverman said a “culture of censorship” prevailed on university campuses, and although the measures were overdue, fines needed to be higher to act as a real deterrent.
Ian Sollom, the Liberal Democrats’ university spokesman, said the complaints scheme and larger fines were only as good as the regulator behind them and that the OfS should issue clear guidance.
The Green Party has been approached for comment.
