Regulation 3 Matters to which the OfS must have regard

(1)

In exercising its power to impose a monetary penalty on a students’ union^f1 under section 69B(2) of the Act, in addition to any other matters it considers appropriate, the OfS must have regard to—

(a)

the nature, seriousness, duration and impact of the relevant breach;

(b)

any financial or other gain made by the students’ union as a result of the relevant breach which benefits the students’ union;

(c)

any financial or other loss avoided as a result of the relevant breach which benefits the students’ union;

(d)

where any gain described in sub-paragraph (b) or avoided loss in sub-paragraph (c) can be quantified, the amount of any such gain or avoided loss;

(e)

any previous breach of the students’ union’s duties under section A5 of the Act (duty to take steps to secure freedom of speech) or A6 of that Act (code of practice)^f2;

(f)

any steps taken by the students’ union following the relevant breach to avoid a breach in the future of its duties under those sections;

(g)

the impact that imposing a monetary penalty on the students’ union is likely to have on—

(i)

members of the students’ union;

(ii)

other students of the provider, who are not members of the students’ union which is for students at that provider;

(iii)

students generally, or students of a particular description, of all providers.

(2)

In this regulation—

“provider” means a registered higher education provider that is eligible for financial support^f3;
“relevant breach” means a breach of one or more of the students’ union’s duties under section A5 or A6 of the Act in respect of which the OfS is considering the imposition of a monetary penalty.

Annotations

Footnotes

f1: “Students’ union” is defined in section A5(6) of the Act.
f2: Sections A5 and A6 of the Act were inserted by section 3 of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023.
f3: “Registered higher education provider that is eligible for financial support” is defined in section 85(1) of the Act.