The OfS is currently consulting on its approach to charging fees for investigations.
Regulations were passed in December 2022 permitting it to charge such fees (the Higher Education (Investigation Fees) (England) Regulations 2022). The consultation itself sets out the circumstances under which the regulator would charge fees for investigations, and the way in which these fees would be determined.
These regulations conferred on the OfS the power to recover costs it reasonably incurs in conducting the investigation, where it:
- Finds that a provider is breaching, or has breached, any ongoing condition of registration.
- Imposes a specific ongoing condition of registration on the provider.
- Requires the provider’s governing body to provide information under registration condition F3.
- Recommends that, in order to mitigate an increased risk of a breach of a registration condition, the provider should take or refrain from taking any action specified by the OfS.
