Action on Access aims to influence and enhance widening participation policy making. Alongside providing strategic advice to the HEFCE we also provide forums for dialogue between the funding council and senior manages and practitioners.

The HEFCE actively promotes widening participation within the higher education sector and WP forms one of its strategic aims . HEFCE allocates monies linked to widening participation indicators as part of its recurrent grants to providers. Institutions are also allocated funding based on the number of disabled learners claiming DSAs who are registered on their courses. Higher education providers were recently requested to write strategic assessments by the funding council.

As widening participation is one of the funding council’s aims there are also a number of interlinking policy streams that relate to this area. In 2004 Professor Steven Schwartz was asked to review the system of admissions to higher education. One of the outcomes of the subsequent report was the establishment of the Office for Fair Access which oversees ‘access agreements’ that HE providers must publish if they have introduced higher tuition fees since 2006-07.

One of the cornerstones of widening participation has been the continuation of local programmes which are currently organised by Aimhigher partnerships. This programmes was reviewed in 2007 and guidance was issued by the funding council relating to specific targeting of groups of learners. A key aspect of the work of Aimhigher within higher education providers have been a series of summer schools <link to our summer schools pages> initiatives. Additionally the funding council has provided Aimhigher partnerships with monies to organise undergraduate mentors for young people in the 14-19 age group.

Alongside these policy developments the HE sector has been encouraged to engage with schools, colleges and academies and a grant was made available in February 2009 to provide for this.