Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of higher education providers in England are expected to record an operating deficit in each of the next three financial years.

The Office for Students, the independent regulator of higher education (HE) in England, is responsible for monitoring the sector’s financial sustainability. Its most recent report on the sector’s financial health, published in May 2026, can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/financial-sustainability-of-higher-education-providers-in-england-2026/.

The department greatly values the hard work of staff across the HE sector who continue to deliver for students and universities during a challenging period. We are aware that some providers are making difficult decisions around staffing to safeguard their financial sustainability.

Given universities are independent, the government does not have a role in intervening with specific providers in pay and staffing matters, nor does it collect specific data on redundancies within HE.

However, we encourage providers to work constructively with their staff to develop sustainable models that retain talent and expertise and provide stability for the workforce and the institution.