Part 1: Duties to protect freedom of speech Section 4: Civil claims Section A7: Civil claims
This section amends the Higher Education and Research Act 2017 to insert section A7, which creates a new statutory tort for breach of specified freedom of speech duties. It enables civil proceedings to be brought against a registered higher education provider or a constituent institution of such a provider in respect of a breach of section A1, and against a students’ union in respect of a breach of section A5, if the claimant has suffered a loss (either monetary or non-monetary).
	A claim may only be brought if the claimant has first exhausted either of the available complaints schemes (operated by the OfS or the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education). An exception to this is where the claimant is applying only for an injunction.