University staff-student relationship rules

Short answer

There is no blanket criminal or statutory ban across England and Wales on a member of university staff and an adult student having a sexual or romantic relationship. However, since 1 August 2025 such relationships are subject to important new regulatory requirements, and in practice they are increasingly either prohibited outright or tightly controlled by each university’s own rules. Whether a particular relationship is “prohibited” depends primarily on the policy of the specific institution, which you need to read.

The regulatory position from 1 August 2025

The Office for Students (OfS), the regulator for higher education in England, introduced a new condition of registration, Condition E6, dealing with harassment and sexual misconduct. It came into force on 1 August 2025 and applies to registered higher education providers.

Condition E6 specifically addresses intimate personal relationships between staff and students. It does not, by itself, impose a nationwide ban. Instead it requires each provider to have a single comprehensive source of information setting out one or more steps that could make a “significant and credible difference in protecting students from any actual or potential conflict of interest and/or abuse of power” arising from such relationships.

Two points from the OfS guidance are important. First, the OfS treats a genuine ban on intimate personal relationships as a step that is deemed to make a significant and credible difference. Second, the OfS has said that a mere statement that the provider “disapproves of” or “discourages” such relationships is not, on its own, enough to comply. In other words, universities must do more than express disapproval; they must adopt substantive protective measures.

Where a provider chooses to impose a ban, the OfS definition requires two elements: that relevant staff are prohibited from having an intimate personal relationship with a student (subject to defined excluded relationships, for example a pre-existing relationship such as a spouse who later enrols), and that a breach would be dealt with under the normal staff disciplinary process, up to and including possible dismissal.

Notably, the OfS moved away from the position it had originally consulted on in 2023, which had leaned towards a mandatory sector-wide ban. The final condition instead gives providers a choice between an outright ban and other robust protective measures such as compulsory declaration and management of relationships.

What this means in practice

Because of Condition E6, most universities have by now adopted one of two broad approaches.

Some have introduced an outright prohibition on staff having intimate relationships with students, at least where there is any teaching, supervisory, pastoral, assessment or other position of responsibility over the student.

Others have adopted a mandatory disclosure and management model. Under this approach the relationship is not automatically banned, but the staff member must formally declare it, and the university then manages the conflict of interest, for example by removing the staff member from marking, supervising, assessing or making decisions about that student.

Either way, undeclared relationships and relationships involving a direct position of power over the student are the situations most likely to lead to disciplinary action.

How to find the rule that applies to you

The decisive document is the individual university’s policy. You should look for a policy usually titled something like “Personal Relationships Between Staff and Students”, “Conflicts of Interest”, or a section within the staff code of conduct or the student protection and safeguarding framework. Since the OfS now requires a single comprehensive source of information, this should be reasonably easy to locate on the university’s website or staff intranet.

When reading it, check the following:

1. Whether the policy is an outright ban or a declare-and-manage regime.

2. How it defines “intimate personal relationship” (this often extends beyond sexual relationships to romantic or close personal relationships, and sometimes to financial relationships).

3. Who counts as a “relevant staff member” and which students they are prohibited from or restricted with (often anyone with actual or potential academic, supervisory, pastoral or professional responsibility for the student).

4. Any excluded or pre-existing relationships that are treated differently.

5. The disclosure procedure, to whom disclosure is made, and the timescale.

6. The disciplinary consequences of breach, including the possibility of dismissal for staff.

Related legal considerations

Even outside these specific rules, several other legal frameworks can be engaged by staff-student relationships.

Employment law is relevant because a breach of a clear relationships policy can be a disciplinary matter and, if serious, potentially gross misconduct justifying dismissal. Whether a dismissal is fair depends on the ordinary unfair dismissal principles, including whether the policy was clear and communicated and whether a fair procedure was followed.

Consent and criminal law generally are not engaged simply because there is an age or authority gap between two consenting adults. There is no offence merely because one adult is a university lecturer and the other an adult student. Separate criminal issues would only arise on quite different facts, for example where a student is under 18 and the staff member is in a statutory position of trust, or where there is coercion, abuse of a vulnerable person, harassment or non-consensual conduct. Those are distinct scenarios governed by their own legal tests.

Equality law can also be relevant. Harassment of a sexual nature, or conduct that creates an intimidating or hostile environment, can engage the Equality Act 2010, and universities have duties to protect students from harassment and sexual misconduct, which is precisely the mischief Condition E6 is aimed at.

How the answer could change on your facts

The practical answer turns heavily on details you have not given. It matters which university is involved and what its current policy says, since some institutions ban these relationships and others merely regulate them. It matters whether the staff member has any teaching, supervisory, assessment or pastoral responsibility for the particular student, because that is where conflict of interest and abuse of power concerns are greatest. It matters whether both people are adults and whether the relationship pre-dated the student’s enrolment. And it matters whether we are talking about the position of the staff member, the student, or a third party such as another student affected by the relationship.

If you tell me which university is involved, whether you are the staff member or the student, and whether there is any supervisory or assessment link between the two people, I can give you a much more precise answer about whether the relationship is prohibited and what the consequences of a breach would be.