A Practical Guide to the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023

Introduction

In 2023, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (‘the Act’) became law, introducing a range of enhanced and new duties for providers with respect to free speech on campus and academic freedom, new conditions of registration, which will be monitored by a new Director at the OfS, and a new complaints scheme similar to the existing Office of the Independent Adjudicator scheme.

The Act introduces landmark legal reforms that significantly change the regulatory and litigation landscape for English universities and their legal advisors.

Understanding the Act’s implications and requirements is essential for all professionals dealing with higher education, as it will apply to all English Universities and their constituent institutions and has mandatory action points to ensure proper compliance. This webinar provides practical legal insight into how the Act interacts with equality and human rights law, and what lawyers need to do now to help their clients stay compliant, defensible, and prepared.

Furthermore, the new enforcement mechanisms - especially the new complaints scheme - will mean that free speech issues will increasingly come across the desk of high education professionals.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• The compliance impact of both issues and documentation
• How the new free speech obligations interact with existing obligations relating to equality law - including potential conflicts with the Equality Act 2010 and the Human Rights Act
• Suggestions for best practice
• Highlighting risk areas such as invited speaker controversies, student complaints, and decisions impacting academic freedom
• Mitigation strategies - including legal risk assessments, defensible decision-making processes, and response planning for OfS investigations or legal claims

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Thursday 16th October 2025

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