{"id":64138,"date":"2015-11-13T14:30:08","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T14:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=c30720b72d4750732948f5e255b207f1"},"modified":"2015-11-13T14:30:08","modified_gmt":"2015-11-13T14:30:08","slug":"press-release-cma-secures-assurances-from-ucl-on-student-debt-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=64138","title":{"rendered":"Press release: CMA secures assurances from UCL on student debt policy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>University College London (<abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr>) is now revising its terms and conditions and processes to ensure that students will not be subject to academic sanctions &#8211; such as being stopped from graduating or re-enrolling onto courses &#8211; because of non-tuition fee debts, such as rent arrears.<\/p>\n<p>This will help to ensure that <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> is compliant with its own stated policy and also with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/higher-education-consumer-law-advice-for-providers\">advice<\/a> on consumer law issued to higher education providers by the Competition and Markets Authority (<abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>) in March 2015.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst involved in a dispute with a number of its students who went on rent strike in protest about their accommodation, <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> sent letters threatening to impose academic sanctions if rent remained outstanding. After it received information from Which? and the <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> student union, the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> raised its concerns with <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> that it was likely to have breached consumer law. <\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> assured the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> that the letters had been sent in error and, to address the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s concerns, it has given assurances to the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> that it will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>not threaten or apply academic sanctions on its students because they have a debt for <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> accommodation<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>not threaten or apply academic sanctions because they owe other non-tuition fee debts to the university<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>revise its contract terms and practices in accordance with the above assurances <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Nisha Arora, <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> Senior Director, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Students shouldn\u2019t be prevented from graduating or re-enrolling because they owe money for accommodation or other non-academic services.  We welcome <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr>\u2019s co-operation and commitment to complying with consumer law, which will be to the benefit of its students.<\/p>\n<p>Compliance with consumer protection law is an important way to ensure that students have the right information to make informed decisions about what and where to study and are treated fairly when they get there.<\/p>\n<p>In order to monitor compliance with the advice we published earlier this year, and to ensure that students are being treated fairly, the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> has started a review of compliance in the sector. Providers that breach consumer law risk enforcement action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We are grateful for the assistance we received from Which? and the <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> student union with this case.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In March 2015 the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> published advice to the sector about how to comply with consumer law and also wrote to universities advising them to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>give students the clear, accurate and timely information they need so they can make an informed decision about what and where to study<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>ensure that their terms and conditions are fair, for example, so they cannot make surprising changes to the course or costs <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Students were also provided with an at-a-glance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/higher-education-a-short-guide-to-consumer-rights-for-students\">guide<\/a> to their consumer rights.<\/p>\n<p>To report a possible breach of consumer law by a higher education provider, please see the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/report-a-potential-consumer-law-breach-by-a-higher-education-provider\">guidance for undergraduate students<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<h3 id=\"notes-for-editors\">Notes for editors<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> is the UK\u2019s primary competition and consumer authority. It is an independent non-ministerial government department with responsibility for carrying out investigations into mergers, markets and the regulated industries and enforcing competition and consumer law. From 1 April 2014 it took over the functions of the Competition Commission and the competition and certain consumer functions of the Office of Fair Trading (<abbr title=\"Office of Fair Trading\">OFT<\/abbr>), as amended by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s advice to the sector cited the compliance work, previously undertaken by the <abbr title=\"Office of Fair Trading\">OFT<\/abbr>, in February 2014, on use of academic sanctions for non-tuition fee <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk\/20140402142426\/http:\/www.oft.gov.uk\/OFTwork\/consumer-enforcement\/consumer-enforcement-completed\/university-terms\/\">debts<\/a>. The key pieces of consumer protection legislation considered in the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s advice were the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (the <abbr title=\"Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999\">UTCCRs<\/abbr>), the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (<abbr title=\"Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008\">CPRs<\/abbr>) and the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013. Part 2 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 replaces the <abbr title=\"Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999\">UTCCRs<\/abbr>, it applies to contracts entered into, and relevant notices issued, on or after 1 October 2015. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>The assurances were given by <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> following a letter from the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>, which raised its concerns that <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> was using a term in its contract with students that allowed it to apply academic sanctions for non-tuition fee debts, in a blanket fashion and regardless of the circumstances and also requested information from <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr>, on a voluntarily basis. The latter was to assist the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> to determine what further action, if any, needed to be taken.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> informed the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> that it was not its policy to apply academic sanctions for non-tuition debts and had established a taskforce to review the entire content of the <abbr title=\"University College London\">UCL<\/abbr> website to ensure that the information available is accurate and up to date, including information about how debts will be recovered as well as ensuring that processes reflect those policies. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>For more information on the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> see our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/competition-and-markets-authority\">homepage<\/a> or follow us on Twitter <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CMAgovUK\">@CMAgovuk<\/a>, <a rel=\"external\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/cma-gov-uk\/\">Flickr<\/a> and <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/competition-and-markets-authority\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>Enquiries should be directed to Simon Belgard (<a href=\"mailto:simon.belgard@cma.gsi.gov.uk\">simon.belgard@cma.gsi.gov.uk<\/a>, 020 3738 6472).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UCL will ensure that students are not prevented from graduating or re-enrolling because of non-academic debts, following action by the CMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64138\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}