UK universities move to ban non-disclosure agreements

The UK’s university regulator has banned non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in cases of sexual misconduct or harassment involving students, effective from 1 September, after consultations on how to protect students from such abuses. Susan Lapworth, the chief executive of the Office for Students (OfS), said the watchdog was “pleased to be able to regulate” in students’ interests. But campaigners including Zelda Perkins of #Can’tBuyMySilence, an organisation that campaigns against harmful NDA use, criticised the exclusion of staff and visiting speakers from this ban, telling Tortoise it was a “major loss”. Perkins said broader protections were necessary to prevent NDAs from hiding various forms of misconduct, including discrimination and bullying, and urged the education secretary to reconsider the bill.

In response to the OfS announcement, Bridget Phillipson, Minister for Women and Equalities, said the NDA ban would “ensure victims do not suffer in silence”.

From August 2025, the OfS will also require universities to publish “comprehensive” information on how harassment is prevented, reported, investigated and how potential complainants will be supported. Training will be required too – for staff and students – to “improve understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment and misconduct”.

Although previously also floating a ban on staff-student relationships, the OfS stopped short of doing so. Instead institutions have been told to take steps to “prevent abuse of power” in personal relationships between staff and students.

A student survey conducted by the OfS which informed the new regulations reported 20 per cent of students had experienced unwanted sexual behaviour.

The watchdog also found that only 12 per cent of students who had experienced sexual harassment in the last year had made a formal report to their university, of which 43 per cent said their experience of reporting was “poor”.