The Government has FINALLY commenced the section in the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act to establish a complaints scheme

Max Thompson, Campaigns Officer

19 June 2026

At long last, the Government has finally commenced that part of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (Hefsa) that establishes a statutory complaints scheme.

From 1 September, academics and visiting speakers at English universities will be able to complain to the Office for Students if they think their right to free speech has been breached, e.g if they have been unable to give a lecture because of disruptive protestors or they've been no-platformed.

It was partly to make sure the Government commenced this part of the Act that the Free Speech Union successfully legally challenged Bridget Phillipson's decision to 'pause' its implementation.

A few days before that case was due to be heard in the High Court, the Education Secretary backed down, saying she would implement most of the Act, including the section establishing a complaints scheme, at which point we withdrew our claim.

Phillipson initially said the complaints scheme would have to wait until a "suitable legislative vehicle" came along, because she wanted to exclude students from the scheme and that would require an amendment to section 8. But various campaign groups, such as the London Universities’ Council for academic freedom, the Campaign for Academic Freedom, Academics for Academic Freedom and Alumni For Free Speech, kept the pressure up, pointing out that the complaints scheme could be created by laying regulations and did not need to wait for a suitable bill. Well done to all of them.

Although this is a major victory, the war is not yet won. Students aren't able to complain via this route and they are the real victims of the free speech crisis on our university campuses. So the next battle will be to get them included. The regulator, after all, is called the Office for Students, not the Office for Everyone Connected with Universities... Apart From Students!

Once we've achieved that, the next step will be to roll out similar protections across the rest of the UK. But for the time being, all those involved in this long-running campaign should take a moment to savour this victory.