August, 2024 - LimeCulture

The Office for Students (OfS) has announced the details of its long-awaited regulation on harassment and sexual misconduct, coming into force for universities and colleges in England on 1 August 2025.

Universities and Higher Education colleges in England will now be required under a new condition of registration to take ‘significant and credible’ steps to prevent and respond effectively to harassment and sexual misconduct in their institutions.

LimeCulture has been privileged to work within the Higher Education sector for over a decade. During this time we’ve experienced sector change at an incredible pace. We’ve seen the level of specialism within student support services in responding to sexual misconduct cases grow and deepen, and Sexual Violence Liaison Officers (SVLOs) emerge as a vital workforce sitting at the heart of the response to sexual misconduct in more than 80 HEIs.

Here at LimeCulture we’ve worked with many individual institutions to deliver their commitments to creating safer cultures within their campuses and across their institutions. We’ve supported them to better understand, address, and take steps to prevent and respond appropriately to sexual misconduct.

But as the OFS’ review of the implementation of their 2021 Statement of Expectations clearly demonstrated, there is still much more to do to embed the step change students and staff deserve.

Under the new regulation, universities and colleges in England will be required to:

have a ‘single comprehensive source of information’ that sets out all policies and procedures relating to harassment and sexual misconduct

ensure the single source of information is published, accessible and complies at all times with minimum content requirements, and content and prominence principles.

in relation to intimate personal relationships, the ‘single comprehensive source’ must provide for ‘one or more steps’ that individually or combination will make a significant and credible difference in protecting students from actual or potential conflict of interest and/or abuse of power

have the capacity and resources in place that are necessary to facilitate compliance with the condition

comply with the condition in such a way that is consistent with freedom of speech principles.

Consistent with freedom of speech principles, English universities and colleges will now also be unable to restrict students from disclosing information about an allegation after the condition comes into force, in a welcome move to formally prevent the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in harassment and sexual misconduct cases.

The minimum content requirements placed on universities and colleges through the new condition include ensuring that the steps they set out within the single source of information – individually or in combination – make ‘a significant and credible difference’ in protecting students from harassment and sexual misconduct.

The OFS has been rightly expansive in setting expectations about the nature of those steps, which include the entire student journey from arrival at university through to something unwanted of a sexual nature happening, through to the steps and support that follow.

The OFS explicitly emphasises the need to ensure the understanding of the specific student population, with the expectation of mandatory training and information for all students; and the expectation that staff will be equipped with the confidence and competence to respond appropriately to disclosures and carry out their roles.

We believe that universities and colleges are in a uniquely powerful position when it comes to preventing and responding to harassment and sexual misconduct. It is crucial that they take this responsibility seriously.

It is not a tick box exercise and universities and colleges will want to ensure that the actions they take to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct are carefully considered and supported, adequately resourced, and monitored to ensure their prevention and response initiatives are making a significant and credible difference.

How we can support you

LimeCulture can support universities and colleges to review their state of readiness and compliance with the new condition of registration, and develop focused action plans.

We can also provide tailored consultancy support and specialist training to assist universities to meet the requirements to tackle harassment and sexual misconduct.

New employment duties on sexual harassment

The OfS’ condition of registration on harassment and sexual misconduct focuses rightly on the student experience. However, this academic year, universities will also be subject to new employment legislation (the Worker Protection Act 2023 (Amendment of the Equality Act 2012) coming into force on 27 October 2024, with duties changing in relation to their staff.

The new legislation marks a significant shift in the legal landscape regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, requiring employers to take reasonable steps to prevent employees from experiencing sexual harassment. Employment tribunals will have the authority to increase compensation for sexual harassment by up to 25% if an employer is found to have breached their duty.

We believe this new duty provides a fantastic opportunity for universities and colleges to drive safer cultures within their workplaces – where expectations of behaviours are clear, inappropriate behaviours, misogynistic attitudes, harassment and abuse are not tolerated, and responses are swift, fair, and embedded in an understanding of trauma; allowing the institution and all the individuals working within it to thrive. And for universities and colleges, by considering the needs and experiences of staff, this can only help them in delivering a whole-institution response to sexual misconduct.

Find out more about LimeCulture’s Safer Cultures work here