Governance News Alert: Office for Students (OfS): New Requirements for the Oversight of Subcontractual Arrangements in English Higher Education

Following a consultation last year, the OfS is introducing a new ongoing condition of registration, E10, which will apply to any lead provider that has, or expects to have, 100 or more students registered on relevant subcontractual courses during a given academic year. It has published three documents: outcomes from the consultation, which received 83 responses; details about Condition E10; and a definition of ‘minimum content requirements’ ie the information about partnerships that providers must provide to comply with the new condition. The key points below are taken from the “Condition E10: Subcontracting” document.

The full E10 document can be found at: conditione10-condition-and-guidance.pdf

The full Definition of Minimum Content Requirements is at: Lead providers - Office for Students

The full consultation outcomes document can be found at: Consultation outcomes: New requirements for the oversight of subcontractual arrangements in English higher education - Office for Students

At-a-glance:

• Condition E10 places providers under an “overarching obligation” to identify and address the risks to students and taxpayers in any subcontractual arrangements. The OfS may assess whether a provider has met this overarching obligation of the condition, and take regulatory action if needed. Typical risks could include, for example, a delivery partner (or its agents) misrepresenting or mis-selling courses, students being recruited to courses without the English language skill levels required to engage, or students receiving a low-quality academic experience (p7)
• Lead providers will be required to maintain a subcontractual information source (SIS) explaining how they oversee partnerships. The minimum content requirements of this information source will include the provider’s strategic rationale for engaging in subcontractual relationships, including existing arrangements. The provider must outline its approach to assessing potential new relevant subcontractual arrangements, including their feasibility, whether the courses provided comply with conditions, due diligence and the capacity and resources of potential partners (p8-9)
• The SIS must also include details of oversight by the governing body and others of the partnership and the mechanisms that will be used to assure condition E10 and deliver the stated strategic rational. The governing body and, where applicable, committees and individuals, must identify and address risks that the provider’s existing and future subcontractual arrangements pose to the interests of students and/or taxpayers. It must oversee and ensure the quality and rigour of the internal or external auditing of existing and future relevant subcontractual arrangements and that courses comply with the OfS’s regulatory requirements, including conditions B1 to B5 (p9-10)
• The SIS should outline the policies and procedures relating to complaints and whistleblowers, conflicts of interest and mitigation of risks to public funding, as well as oversight of agents and the criteria and processes for admitting students (p11)
• Information should be provided on how the provider assesses and approves delivery of courses, monitors courses and oversees the prevention and management of academic misconduct (p11)
• The SIS should explain how providers ensures that they have access to information or data held by partners about courses and students and how they verify this data - including via onsite, in-person inspections, or where courses are online, accessing the online learning environment to verify the services reported (p11)
• In addition, providers should describe what they will do to protect students’ interests in the event of poor provision or if a partner ceases to provide the courses agreed under the arrangement. A plan to enable students to transfer to the provider, or another HE provider, to continue and complete their studies should be included (p12)
• Institutions must explain in the SIS how they keep policies and procedures under regular review and how they adapt them in response to changes, including to the scale or nature of subcontractual provision (p13)
• The new general ongoing condition E10 will take effect from 31 March 2026. The SIS must be in place and being implemented no later than 30 June 2026 (p9)
• A provider is not required to regularly share its SIS with the OfS or publish it as a matter of course. However, a provider must maintain it and be prepared to share it with OfS on request  (p9)

Implications for governance:

The new E10 condition is being applied by the OfS following concerns about the quality of some subcontracted provision and the potential risks to students and taxpayers.

A series of OfS reports published in 2025 on a small number of existing franchise partnerships found examples of students recruited to courses that were not suitable for their needs, with poor quality teaching and student support, breaches of academic integrity, and inadequate information and guidance for students. There have also been cases in which public funding was claimed for students who were not genuinely eligible or had no intention of studying. 

According to the regulator, in many instances, these issues were linked to weaknesses in how subcontracted provision was overseen by lead providers. The new ongoing condition of registration is aimed at driving behavioural change to ensure robust oversight of arrangements that carry heightened risk, thereby safeguarding students’ experience and outcomes while ensuring public funding is used appropriately. 

The OfS makes the point that institutions with well-established governance frameworks and effective oversight of subcontracted delivery arrangements will find the ongoing compliance straightforward.

Where there are gaps in oversight, however, governing boards and the executive will need to take steps to meet the requirements of the condition.

The documents covering the requirements of condition E10 and the content of the subcontracting information source (SIS) lay out in a relatively clear manner what providers need to do as a minimum. Current oversight policy, procedures and documentation can be compared to the key points in these documents and action taken where necessary. As the deadline for writing and implementing the SIS is only three months away, this may require relatively rapid attention. 

To meet the demands of more robust oversight, some institutions may need to commit time and resources. The OfS says that it is for the provider to determine how to achieve compliance with the condition - but that it could include, for example, “deploying staff to implement policies set out in the SIS or ensuring the governing body or appropriate subcommittee receives relevant monitoring information”.

In the consultation, respondents commented on the requirements to conduct on-site inspections of subcontracted teaching and facilities and noted that these would be costly to implement, difficult if courses are delivered online or unnecessary in the case of “trusted partners”. 

Some respondents pointed to existing contractual barriers that would prevent this type of oversight activity from taking place. In response, the OfS said that “comments of this nature further demonstrate some of the current limitations in assurance and oversight activity that we seek to address through this condition.”

The OfS does not specify the exact format or system to be used by a provider to collate their SIS and says that institutions are best placed to determine the most suitable approach. But it says an “overarching policy document or directory setting out a provider’s overall approach, with links to the relevant procedural documents required as minimum content” could be a sensible way forward for many.

While the content of the SIS is a minimum requirement, an institution should judge whether other policies, procedures or provisions are necessary to effectively manage risks to the interests of students and taxpayers relevant to its particular context. Any additional arrangements should be documented in the SIS.