Doctoral Deans & Directors — OfS Statement of Expectations on Disability
On September 18th 2026, we welcomed Suzanne Carrie and Suzy Allinson from the Office for Students (OfS) to address the DDD Network about work currently underway on a new statement of expectations on disability and to provide an opportunity to feed in.
To open the session, Nigel Eady (Chair, UKCGE DDD network and Director of Research Talent, King’s College London) welcomed both speakers and attendees. He then opened the floor to Suzanne Carrie (Head of Student Equality and Welfare, OfS) to begin the presentation.
“We’ve been trying to talk to as many groups of staff and students across the sector as we develop our statement of expectations on disability,” Suzanne explained. “We are making notes on the discussion, but we will be capturing high-level thematic outcomes rather than individual comments.”
She then gave some context about the role of the OfS, before turning to specifics about how it currently supports disabled students, including postgraduate researchers. She observed that the transition from undergraduate to postgraduate study is an area where outcomes for disabled students can be poor.
“We considered what we could do – we talked about options with our advisory panel and in February [2026] we announced that we would develop a statement of expectations. We agreed we would produce this collaboratively with the sector. We also said that we would continue to develop the data and the insight to understand sector progress. We will evaluate the statement in a few years to see if it has had an impact.”
Suzanne then set out more details about the approach to this work, explaining that a new phase of the Disability in Higher Education Advisory Panel had been established in April 2026 to offer advice on the statement of expectations (it will run until March 2027). She also explained that the responsibilities of universities and colleges in relation to the Equality Act 2010 would not be impacted by the statement of expectations as these are legal requirements, but it is intended that the statement is well aligned with these as well as wider regulation.
Suzy Allinson (Senior Regulation Manager — Equality of Opportunity, Office for Students) then took over to introduce the OfS draft areas of focus. She explained that the OfS is very open to feedback and challenge on the areas during this development phase. She also outlined what a statement of expectations is, as follows:
- Articulation of what the OfS expects from higher education providers in a specific area.
- Principles-based and set out guidance on standards and priorities.
- In this case, sets out a consistent minimum baseline that providers should be meeting.
- Sits alongside legal and regulatory requirements.
She added that the OfS has previously published two statements of expectations, one on addressing harassment and sexual misconduct and the other on industrial action.
A group discussion followed, which was held under the Chatham House Rule (in which participants are not identified) to allow for freer comment.
As this topic is also relevant to member of the Postgraduate Education Practitioners’ Network, there will be an opportunity on October 20th 2026 for PEP members to feed into the work of the OfS when the event will be repeated online. Please see the booking link below.