A group of 26 Cambridge academics, including two Nobel prize winners, have said in a letter to the education secretary that they are “deeply concerned” by delays in implementing a complaints scheme for the Freedom of Speech Act.

The letter, signed by almost 400 academics from across the UK, warns that these delays mean “universities can disregard their [Freedom of Speech Act] duties with impunity”. It also alleges that the complaints scheme has been “kicked into the long grass, with real consequences for academics at the sharp end”.

In 2023, the Freedom of Speech Act received royal assent under the Conservative government, with most provisions enacted by 1 August 2025. However, the implementation of section eight of the Act, which established a scheme for individuals to lodge complaints with the Office for Students (OfS), has been delayed by the Labour government, who are seeking to amend it.

Section eight also gave the OfS the power to recommend what action be taken in response to complaints, including the levying of fines.

The letter to the education secretary argues: “The complaints scheme was designed as a low-stakes route to resolve alleged breaches of free speech and academic freedom. Through its accumulating precedents, it would also have served as a practical guide to help the higher education sector navigate the new statutory duties. Without it, the promise of [the Freedom of Speech Act] will remain unfulfilled.”

The letter also calls for the government to “set out immediately a timetable for legislation to amend and implement the complaints scheme” as well as implementing the original section eight as an “interim measure”.

Among the Cambridge academics who signed the letter are the molecular biologist Sir Gregory Winter and physicist Professor Brian Josephson, who are both Nobel Prize winners.

Other notable signatories include the history professor Robert Tombs, the physician Sir Stephen O’Rahilly, and the theology professor Richard Rex.

Professor Matthew Kramer, who also signed the letter, told Varsity he did so because: “Unlike most activists on the left and the right of the political spectrum (especially the left, in university settings), I am robustly supportive of the principle of freedom of expression.”

He added: “If that principle is to be given effect at a practical level, there must be adequate means of enforcing the duties that are imposed by it. The complaints scheme envisioned in the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act would provide adequate means of enforcing those duties. A government that does not move expeditiously to implement that scheme is not supportive of the principle of freedom of expression.”

Meanwhile, Professor Richard Bourke, another signatory, told Varsity: “I support free speech within the law, though I can’t see that this is controversial. What has concerned me more specifically are the moral constraints placed on freedom of teaching, hiring, and research, which were hard won by universities historically, but which have been compromised by an atmosphere of ideological absolutism that gained traction on either side of the ‘culture war’ over the past decade.”

Responding to the letter, Daniel Zeichner, the Labour MP for Cambridge, told Varsity: “Labour is committed to the principles of free speech and academic freedom. It’s important that the Act is implemented carefully to ensure that it works in practice.”

Despite delays implementing the complaints scheme, the Freedom of Speech Act has already been used to fine the University of Sussex £585,000 for firing Professor Kathleen Stock over her views on gender.

The OfS director for freedom of speech, Arif Ahmed – who is also a former professor at Cambridge – said that the University of Sussex had “significant and serious breaches of the OfS’s requirements,” and that “substantial monetary penalties are appropriate for the scale of wrongdoing we have found”.