The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (Commencement No. 4) Regulations 2026 set the next implementation dates for England's higher education free speech regime. The statutory instrument, made on 17 June 2026 and signed by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Josh MacAlister, does not create new substantive duties. Its purpose is to bring selected parts of the 2023 Act into force on fixed dates. According to the text published on legislation.gov.uk, the commencement is split across two stages. One group of provisions starts on 1 September 2026, while a further set of regulatory provisions starts on 1 April 2027.
The first stage concerns section 8 of the 2023 Act, which inserts the free speech complaints scheme into the Higher Education and Research Act 2017. The Department for Education's explanatory note says this part-commencement activates the Office for Students complaints route from 1 September 2026, but only for a defined group of complainants and only for certain kinds of case. That distinction matters because section 8 is not being commenced in full. The regulations switch on the complaints scheme only so far as it relates to higher education provider complaints outside the student category, leaving other elements of the statutory scheme for a later stage.
The clearest exclusions concern students' unions and students themselves. The regulations expressly leave out the paragraphs in Schedule 6A to the 2017 Act dealing with students' union free speech complaints, and they also leave out any complaint that falls within the statutory definition of a students' union free speech complaint. They also exclude complaints made by a person acting as an eligible person because that person is, or was, a student of a registered provider or constituent institution. The same exclusion applies where a person is a member of a provider only because of student status. In practical terms, the September 2026 commencement does not open the OfS route to students or to complaints centred on students' unions.
The explanatory note sets out who is covered from 1 September 2026. The OfS complaints scheme will be available for current and former staff, for members of a provider or constituent institution who are not members solely because they are students, for applicants to become academic staff, and for invited visiting speakers. That produces a narrower starting scope than the full scheme set out in the 2023 Act. For registered higher education providers, the first operational pressure will centre on employment-related and speaker-related cases, rather than the full range of disputes that may arise on campus.
The same September commencement also brings in a set of linked minor and consequential amendments. Regulation 2 and the Schedule to the instrument switch on selected paragraphs of the 2023 Act's consequential amendments so that the complaints scheme can operate within the structure of the 2017 Act and related legislation. This drafting point is technical, but it is significant. Commencement regulations often need to activate supporting amendments at the same time as the main power. Without that alignment, the statutory machinery used by the OfS would be incomplete or internally inconsistent.
The second stage comes later. From 1 April 2027, section 6 of the 2023 Act comes into force, except for the element that inserts section 8A(3) into the 2017 Act. The Department for Education's note explains that this means the Office for Students must ensure that the ongoing registration conditions for higher education institutions include the new mandatory freedom of speech conditions contained in section 8A(1) and section 8A(2). The provision left out at this stage is the requirement connected to section 8A(3). That uncommenced subsection would require the OfS to ensure that providers eligible for financial support keep the regulator informed about the students' unions at the provider. The April 2027 start date therefore strengthens the regulatory regime, but stops short of bringing that reporting requirement into force.
The overall effect is a phased regime rather than a single implementation date. By September 2026, providers will need to be ready for certain external free speech complaints to reach the OfS, particularly from staff, applicants and visiting speakers. That points to immediate work on complaint handling, speaker decisions and record-keeping before the wider registration conditions arrive in April 2027. The explanatory note also records that this is the fourth commencement instrument under the 2023 Act and refers to an earlier reversal in 2024, when the Commencement No. 2 Regulations were revoked before their remaining provisions took effect. The Department for Education says no further impact assessment has been produced for this 2026 instrument because no additional effect on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen, although the full impact assessment for the 2023 Act remains available.