The Department for Education has made a further commencement instrument under the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, bringing into force two provisions linked to support for lifelong learning and the regulation of standalone higher education modules. According to the statutory instrument made on 11 May 2026, section 15 of the 2022 Act came into force on 12 May 2026, the day after the Regulations were made. The same instrument also starts section 16 on a staged basis. For the limited purpose of making regulations under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, section 16 also commenced on 12 May 2026. For all other purposes, the operative date is 1 September 2026. The Regulations were signed by Smith of Malvern, Minister of State at the Department for Education.
In practical terms, this is not a new policy announcement but a legal step that activates powers Parliament already approved in the 2022 Act. Commencement regulations are used to decide when particular sections of an Act begin to have legal effect. In this case, the instrument switches on provisions intended to support more flexible patterns of study, including study by module rather than only through a full course. The Explanatory Note published with the instrument states that these are the fourth commencement regulations made under the 2022 Act. The immediate policy significance is that the government now has the legal footing to move from primary legislation into implementation, with student support and regulatory arrangements beginning to take formal effect on the dates set out in the Regulations.
Section 15 is the student support provision. According to the Explanatory Note, it inserts a new section 28A into the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998. That amendment modifies section 22 of the 1998 Act so that the existing student finance powers can expressly be used in relation to funding for modules of English higher and further education courses, rather than only whole programmes. The same provision also creates a power to prescribe a new 'lifetime limit' on financial provision made available to a student under section 22. The Explanatory Note adds that sections 23 and 28 of the 1998 Act are similarly modified. In plain terms, section 15 gives ministers a clearer statutory basis to design student support around modular study and to place an overall cap on the support an individual can draw down over time.
Section 16 deals with the regulatory side rather than the funding side. The Explanatory Note says it makes consequential amendments to the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 so that modules of English higher education courses can be regulated when they are taken other than as part of a full course. It also inserts a definition of a full course, described in the Note as a higher education course that is not a module of another higher education course. The split commencement date matters. From 12 May 2026, section 16 is in force only so far as needed to make further regulations under the 2017 Act. The wider legal effect does not arrive until 1 September 2026. That staging gives government time to prepare the secondary legislation needed for the regulatory system before the full commencement date takes effect.
For providers, the instrument gives a clearer implementation timetable. Universities, colleges and other bodies involved in English higher education now have a fixed date from which the relevant student support powers are active, and a later date from which the broader HERA amendments will apply for all purposes. The Regulations do not themselves set out the detailed funding rules, fee limits or provider conditions, but they allow those next steps to be put in place within an active statutory framework. For learners, the immediate change is indirect rather than operationally complete. The Regulations do not by themselves create a new application route or publish entitlement amounts. What they do is activate the legal machinery for modular funding and oversight. According to the Explanatory Note, that machinery is intended to support study undertaken in smaller units, which is likely to matter most for adults seeking part-time or more flexible forms of higher and further education.
The territorial scope is also narrower than the headline may suggest. The Explanatory Note states that section 15 extends and applies to England and Wales, and also to Scotland and Northern Ireland so far as sections 22 and 23 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 do in those jurisdictions. Section 16 extends and applies to England and Wales, although section 16(3) also extends and applies to Scotland and Northern Ireland. That means the operational focus remains English modular higher and further education, even where some drafting has wider territorial reach because it amends earlier UK-wide legislation. Taken together, the Regulations are a technical but important implementation step. They move the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022 closer to practical effect by switching on the statutory basis for modular student support from 12 May 2026 and for wider regulatory changes from 1 September 2026.