The Office for Students (OfS), the independent regulator of higher education in England, announced in early January a decision to scrap its minimum spend rule for higher education access. The rule required higher education institutions with tuition fees above £6,000 to create an access agreement with the former Office for Fair Access (Offa), to provide support for students from under-represented or disadvantaged groups. From 2019-20, colleges and universities will no longer have to dedicate a set amount of money from this tuition fee income to support such groups.

The report said: “We will not set a minimum expected level of expenditure. Our focus will be on the outcomes that providers achieve and the level of ambition they set, rather than inputs in the form of investment.”

A spokesperson for OfS told Varsity that OfS is still expecting universities to spend money on improving access, and to invest enough to show that their plans are credible.

Chris Millward, Director for Fair Access and Participation at the OfS, said in a press statement that their new approach “reduces red tape for universities that are doing well in improving access and participation”, but OfS “will not hesitate to intervene” where they see “low ambition, slow progress, or poor practice”.

In response to this decision, CUSU Access and Funding Officer Shadab Ahmed told Varsity that with the Augar review, it will "nearing impossible" to predict access efforts as funding structures may "change radically as a result of the investigation".

He added that the removal of minimum spend will be "incredibly harmful", as money is vital in outreach work and supporting students whilst at university, and growth is already slow even when these minimum restrictions existed. 

“The OfS has no real engagement with the student body, especially with those in most need of it, and its decisions are far out of line with those it should represent.”

Amatey Doku, former CUSU President and now Vice-President for Higher Education at the NUS supported the move, said “we do not believe that requiring a minimum level of spend would necessarily be the best way of achieving significant progress in closing access gaps”.

He furthered that the best way to ensure programmes are impactful is through “an evidenced-based, collaborative approach with students”, though he agreed that it is “unlikely” that persistent gaps for disadvantaged students can be closed “without significant investment”.

On the point of student engagement, OfS pointed out that the proposal went through their student panel and board, which included a student representative, and a public consultation exercise.

The spokesperson clarified that OfS’ priority will be to “ensure fair access to higher education for students from all backgrounds” in face of the Augar review.