Scholars stung in free speech rows call for complaints scheme

Academics involved in some of the UK’s most high-profile free speech controversies have called for the immediate introduction of a complaints scheme, claiming it is not necessary to wait for a “suitable legislative vehicle” to begin setting up the investigatory body.

In an letter to skills minister Jacqui Smith, some 12 scholars who claim their academic freedom rights have been violated in recent years urge the Westminster government to make good on its promise to introduce a mechanism that would require the Office for Students (OfS) to investigate complaints made by university staff.

The complaints scheme was removed from the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 (HEFSA) by the Labour government prior to the law’s enactment in August 2025, following a one-year delay, on the basis that student unions should not be subject to the legislation.

Ministers have subsequently promised that a scheme for staff will be enacted by parliament once a “suitable legislative vehicle” is found, although critics have warned that this is unlikely to happen until at least 2030.

Responding to criticisms of the delay, last week Smith told a House of Lords debate that “we are making progress with this” and she “expect[ed] us to be able to introduce the amended complaints scheme sooner rather than later”.

Without a complaints scheme run by the OfS, scholars are not easily able to raise allegations of free speech breaches with the regulator, claim critics, leaving the watchdog to pick and choose which cases it investigates.

Drawing attention to education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s recent comments that “there must be a route for righting wrongs”, the letter calls on the UK government to use existing powers to bring the complaints system into effect.

“Our understanding is that the government does not need to wait for a suitable legislative vehicle to bring the complaints scheme into force for the provider duties that are already in effect, because the Secretary of State can make a commencement regulation commencing section 8 of HEFSA insofar as it applies to Higher Education Provider free speech complaints,” it says.

Speaking in the Lords’ debate, Toby Young, founding director of the Free Speech Union, said he had been told by a “senior parliamentary official” that there was “no constitutional reason why this has to be done by primary legislation”, with routinely used “secondary legislation” an option.

Among the letter’s signatories are Jo Phoenix, a criminology professor who won an apology from the Open University in 2024 after an employment tribunal found it had failed to protect her after she expressed gender critical views; Selina Todd, the University of Oxford historian who faced threats for her views on transgender issues; and Alice Sullivan, the UCL sociology professor who is suing the University of Bristol over its handling of a talk that was disrupted by transgender rights activists in May 2025.

“All of the signatories to this letter are academics whose academic freedom rights have been violated and who would have benefited from the complaints scheme,” explains the letter, which claims “examples such as ours, which are in the public domain, represent the tip of the iceberg, since most of the academics affected by these issues avoid public attention”.

Most academics who faced hostility or censure for their views “quite rationally avoid raising complaints even internally within their institutions, both because they assume this will be fruitless and because they fear potential personal consequences,”  the letter adds.

Many examples of this harassment were detailed in the Sullivan Review report on Barriers to Research, which included testimonies from academic staff affected by potential free speech violations, it says.

“We value the government’s commitment to providing a route to righting wrongs, and we are reassured that you understand that higher education institutions and academics need the clarity that the complaints scheme will bring. In the light of the harms caused by the ongoing delay in enacting the complaints scheme, we urge you to act,” the letter concludes.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com