Ombudsman moots reducing time students have to complain

Disgruntled students will have less time to bring complaints about their university to the higher education ombudsman under potential new rules, as the number of students pursuing grievances reaches a record high.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) has proposed changes to its complaints scheme, which will mean students have six months, rather than one year, to bring a complaint to the ombudsman after their providers’ internal procedures have finished.

The OIA said that analysis of the changes suggests a six-month limit would be “proportionate”, with complaints last year reaching the ombudsman in just over three months on average. 

In 2025, the OIA received a total of 4,234 complaints – a 17 per cent increase on the previous year and its highest level to date. The number of complaints received has consistently risen for the past nine years. Last month it was revealed that institutions had paid out £1.8 million in compensation to resolve complaints made to the ombudsman. 

Other changes proposed by the adjudicator include a tweak to the definition of a student. Currently students are recognised from the point of registration but the OIA has suggested moving this to an earlier point, when someone has accepted an offer to study with a provider.

“This reflects the point at which a contractual relationship is generally understood to arise between a provider and a prospective student in consumer protection guidance,” the OIA said, adding that this could allow students to complain before they register with their institution. 

The OIA may also begin taking complaints from students at a wider range of Welsh tertiary institutions from September 2027, instead of just those at higher education providers, if the new Welsh government goes ahead with the plans. 

As part of this shift, the OIA has proposed changing its name to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Student Complaints to “better reflect the breadth of the OIA’s role as its remit develops”.

The OIA is launching a consultation on the proposals on 18 May. The changes would also see the existing complaints scheme simplified into one that the OIA said would provide greater clarity about its remit and the types of complaints it can and cannot review. It is also moving towards a more “principles-led” scheme. 

“We want to make it easier for students to understand who we are, what we do, and what they can expect when they bring a complaint to us,” said Helen Megarry, the OIA’s independent adjudicator. “At what is often a stressful point for the people involved, clarity matters.”

Writing for Times Higher Education, Megarry acknowledged that a “principles-led” approach can “sometimes create anxiety”. 

“In some contexts, it can sound vague, suggesting that rigour is somehow being reduced. But ombuds work already relies heavily on the careful exercise of judgement. No two student complaints are entirely identical; the challenge is to interpret the rules fairly and proportionately in those varied circumstances.”

She continued: “Detailed rules can absolutely provide important safeguards, consistency and transparency, but they can also create systems which feel impenetrable to the very people they are intended to serve; I need only look at the type and range of complaints crossing the desks of the teams at the OIA to see this.”

helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com