HEP bulletin - September 2026

At the start of a new academic year, there are a few points to remember.

Only confirm registration when you're confident the student is enrolled for the coming term. For new students we recommend that this is after you've had face-to-face contact with them.

Please submit registration confirmations before confirming attendance. You should check and administer your registration worklist regularly.

If you know the student is not pursuing higher education, submit a negative 'N' code confirmation. You should submit this as soon as you find out. You can wait 28 calendar days to submit an 'N' (not registered) confirmation. This allows the student time to register at a different university or college.

You can find guidance on registration on the HEP Services website.

We continue to see a high number of course setup issues. More than half of these are due to providers not selecting the Credit Bearing indicator when creating courses.

Some courses are correctly classified as non-credit bearing. However, most cases have involved providers confirming they missed the indicator in error.

This can have a significant impact where providers intend to offer modular provision. Courses created as non-credit bearing cannot be modularised. This prevents you adding modules later and creates avoidable rework.

When creating a course variant, please make sure you select the Credit Bearing indicator where appropriate. Taking a moment to check this during course setup can help avoid delays. It will also make sure courses can be configured as intended.

Please refer to our creating a course variant section of our guidance. There's also a full list of non-credit bearing courses in the 2026/27 Guidance Chapters.

Awarding body registrations

Please make sure you register students with the relevant awarding body before confirming attendance in SIS. You should also check that records are accurate across both systems. Please confirm:

• student details are correct
• the qualification level is accurate
• the student is linked to the correct course and course names match

This applies whether courses are internally validated or validated by another awarding body.

Fee limits for part-time undergraduate foundation year courses

All students on the foundation year of a part-time undergraduate course must have their tuition fee reflected in line with the new regulations. There's guidance on the foundation year tuition fee limit available on the HEP Services website. This can be used for courses that meet the criteria for the lower fee limit.

Phishing and smishing

Scammers often target students as they receive their first Maintenance Loan payment. We're reminding students to be aware of phishing fraud scams through email or social media. This year we're also urging extra vigilance against text messaging scams, known as 'smishing'.

Fraudsters may send students emails or text messages claiming to be us. These communications will look urgent. They'll also often tell students that their payments will be withheld if they fail to comply. We’ll never ask students to provide or verify personal or financial information by email or text message. We'll also never contact students through social media channels such as WhatsApp or Instagram.

Please remind students to use our official channels or their online account to check if any suspicious contact is genuine. If they receive a suspicious message, they should report it immediately by emailing report@phishing.gov.uk. Please help us with tackling fraud by passing this information onto your students. There's also a range of resources to help recognise and avoid scams. You can share these with students to help them stay aware of any potential risks:

• Action Fraud - the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime
• Stop! Think Fraud - a campaign from the Home Office