ANNUAL REPORT 2023 - Introduction

Welcome to our Annual Report for 2023. The Report gives an overview of our work during the year and reflects on our wider context and relevant developments as we progressed our strategic priorities and delivered against our Operating Plan for 2023.

2023 was another complex and challenging year in the higher education sector, with increasingly acute financial pressures in providers, the continuing high cost of living, housing issues, and ongoing concerns about student mental health and wellbeing.

Against this backdrop, and with complaint numbers still rising, we continued to provide an effective service for reviewing and resolving student’s complaints. We met or exceeded all our key performance indicators for the timeliness of our complaints-handling processes. There is huge value in using learning from complaints to improve students’ experiences of higher education. In 2023 we delivered a full outreach programme to share learning from complaints and to engage constructively with students, their representative bodies and providers.

We also worked extensively with others in the regulatory landscape to contribute to thinking around relevant policy developments, to help promote a joined-up approach and a focus on key issues affecting students. We continued preparations for the expansion of our remit in Wales to further education students, which will give more students the benefit of access to independent redress for their unresolved complaints.

2023 was an important year for developments in our organisation. We continued to grow capacity to manage our rising caseload, alongside our ongoing focus on efficiency. We maintained a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion in our organisation and in our work.

We said goodbye to some long-serving Trustees including the Chair, Dame Suzi Leather and the Deputy Chair, Andy Mack and we thank them for their exceptional contribution to the OIA. We were very pleased to welcome Sim Scavazza as our new Chair and to appoint Martin Kirke as Deputy Chair.

We would like to thank our colleagues for their outstanding commitment to our work again this year and our Board for their continued support and valued advice.