The new commencement regulations put England's higher education fee-limit reforms on a split timetable. Sections 1 and 2 of the Lifelong Learning (Higher Education Fee Limits) Act 2023 are switched on for regulation-making from the day after the instrument was made, but for all other purposes they do not take effect until 1 September 2026. That staging sits within the parent Act. Section 3 allows the Secretary of State to appoint different commencement days for different purposes and to make saving provision when bringing sections 1 and 2 into force. (legislation.gov.uk)
This is not just a technical commencement notice. Sections 1 and 2 are the operative parts of the 2023 Act. They amend the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 so that fee limits can be determined by reference to a course year and, where applicable, by a credit-based method as well as a fixed method. The Act also updates related provisions on access and participation plans, amends definitions used in the 2017 framework and adds regulation-making routes tied to the new fee-limit structure. (legislation.gov.uk)
The saving provision is the operational point most institutions will need to track. Even after 1 September 2026, the pre-existing 2017 Act framework continues to apply to higher education courses that begin before 1 January 2027. The dividing line is the course start date, not the making date of the instrument. That January 2027 threshold matches the wider government timetable for the Lifelong Learning Entitlement. GOV.UK states that the new student finance system will apply to courses starting on or after 1 January 2027, and that applications for those courses open from September 2026. (gov.uk)
The drafting then narrows one key definition. For the purpose of the saving provision, "higher education course" is to be read using the earlier version of the term, rather than the later wording introduced elsewhere in the statute book. That choice matters because section 16 of the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 recast the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 definition so that a higher education course can include a course listed in Schedule 6 to the Education Reform Act 1988 or a standalone module of such a course. The Explanatory Notes say those changes were designed to make the 2017 regulatory framework work for modular study. (legislation.gov.uk)
In policy terms, the department has chosen continuity over a single hard switch. Providers, advisers and student finance teams will need to run the legacy and new fee-limit frameworks in parallel for a period, depending on when a course begins. Government guidance already separates students whose courses start before January 2027 from those starting on or after 1 January 2027, with the latter directed into Lifelong Learning Entitlement funding. For universities and colleges, that means admissions material, fee-setting decisions, student communications and systems rules need to stay aligned to start dates rather than academic year labels alone. (gov.uk)
The immediate effect is therefore mostly administrative, but not trivial. The Department for Education can now use the amended statutory powers to finish the secondary legislation that the new fee-limit model requires, while institutions get a defined transition window before the new regime applies generally and before the January 2027 course-start boundary takes effect. It also completes the final commencement step for the 2023 Act. Section 3 came into force on Royal Assent and gave the Secretary of State the power to set commencement dates and savings for sections 1 and 2, so this instrument closes the remaining gap between the 2023 Act on the statute book and the new fee-limit system in operation. (legislation.gov.uk)