Office for Fair Access
an independent public body in the United Kingdom
The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) was an independent public body in England that supported the Director of Fair Access to Higher Education in his or her work that was intended to safeguard and promote fair access to higher education. It approved and monitored higher education institutions in England through 'access agreements'.
All English universities and colleges that wanted to charge higher fees must have had 'access agreements' approved by the Director of Fair Access to Higher Education.
The first Director, appointed in 2004, was Sir Martin Harris. He was followed by Les Ebdon, whose appointment was confirmed in February 2012.
As a consequence of the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, OFFA and the Higher Education Funding Council for England were replaced by the new Office for Students. OFFA's responsibilities officially ceased on the 31 March 2018.
Background
The Higher Education Act 2004 introduced the concept of variable tuition fees for the first time. Whilst some parts of the United Kingdom, most notably Scotland, did not implement top-up fees, most universities and higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Kingdom in England and sought to implement the new funding regime.
That regime allowed HEIs to charge tuition fees of any amount from £0 to £3,000.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Office for Fair Access” is an independent public body in the United Kingdom. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Office, Fair and Access, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “an independent public body in the United Kingdom” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 15, 2022. The linked authority identifier is Q7079158. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2004, 2012, 2017 and 2018.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Office for Fair Access”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Office for Fair Access primary sources, Office for Fair Access archive and Office research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Office for Fair Access”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Office for Fair Access” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.