Universities face £500,000 fines for failing to protect free speech

The government are introducing a new complaints system for university staff that could see institutions fined £500,000 or 2% of their income if they are found to have failed in protecting free speech.

Under plans which will come into force from the next academic year, academics and other university staff can take complaints directly to the Office of Students (OfS). This is different from the system for students who will continue to to raise concerns with their institution, and then with an independent adjudicator.

The OfS will have powers to review how an incident was handled, direct universities to change their processes, and tell institutions to pay compensation to those affected. From April 2027 the OfS will be able to set fines for breaches of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023. The income for some larger universities are in the region of £500 million or more, while the most prestigious have income in the billions, so a fine of 2% of income could amount to millions.

Current guidance for universities states that they must not suppress lawful free speech, even if it might be offensive or hurtful to some groups. The Free Speech Union found that nearly one in 10 of their cases over the past six years involved universities “failing to protect free speech”.

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: “Freedom of speech is the foundation of every university’s success, enabling them to foster robust debate and exchange challenging ideas respectfully. But there are far too many cases where academics and speakers are being silenced, inciting an unacceptable culture of fear and stifling the pursuit of knowledge.

“The urgency is clear, which is why we are strengthening protections and empowering the regulator to restore our world-class universities as engines of opportunity, aspiration, and growth,” she added.

Vice Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, Professor Malcolm Press, was more cautious, saying that “protecting free speech while preventing harassment, hate speech, and radicalisation are complex tasks involving finely balanced decisions”.