Automating free speech compliance for Universities
Actsure is the first higher education compliance platform that automates free speech compliance for UK universities, from event assessment to audit-ready reporting.
Emerging from research and collaboration at the University of Cambridge, Actsure was created to give universities a reliable, transparent way to meet new statutory duties under the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, not by adding bureaucracy, but by turning compliance into clarity.
Across higher education, the demand for lawful free speech has collided with uncertainty, inconsistency, and risk. Actsure was designed to change that. It transforms complex legal obligations into a clear digital workflow that captures how decisions are made, who makes them, and why. Every assessment, approval, and outcome is recorded in a secure, auditable trail that can be reviewed by governance committees or the Office for Students with confidence.
At its core, Actsure exists to help institutes demonstrate integrity. It provides compliance teams with the tools to resolve free- speech issues. Yet its purpose extends beyond compliance. Actsure is built on the belief that freedom of speech and academic freedom are not only legal rights but foundational values of a healthy university.
What the Act Requires
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023 is more than a legal duty. Providers must take reasonably practicable steps to secure lawful freedom of speech for staff, students, and visiting speakers, and be able to evidence those steps. Actsure turns that legal duty into a clear, defensible workflow and audit trail.
These duties sit alongside existing legal frameworks such as the Equality Act, public order and counter-terrorism law. The regulator, the Office for Students, has powers to investigate and enforce compliance.
The Act arrives at a time when debates over speech, protest, and academic freedom are increasingly contested on university campuses, both in the UK and internationally. In recent years, high-profile cancellations of campus events and growing student concern about self-censorship have shown how fragile these freedoms can be.
Image credits: Unsplash
How It Works
Actsure is designed as a clear workflow for institutional compliance teams. When a potential free speech case is logged, the platform applies statutory and policy checks and routes the matter through a guided sequence of review and reporting.
Record: Guided reporting captures the facts, context, and documents.
Assess: Apply legal and policy checks through built-in compliance logic.
Resolve: Standardised decisions, proportionate actions, and outcomes logged automatically.
Evidence & Report: Generate audit trails, dashboards, and on-demand exportable reports for governance review.
Track & Intervene: Monitor case types and identify patterns requiring mediation or institutional response.
Together, these steps create a defensible process that demonstrates due diligence, ensures consistent handling of every case, and supports early intervention where dialogue or mediation can prevent escalation while maintaining effortless audit readiness.
The Impact
Actsure empowers universities to set a national standard for lawful freedom of speech. By reducing regulatory burden and strengthening governance confidence, it allows institutions to meet their legal duties with clarity. At the same time, each case contributes to a cumulative record that reveals trends, supports early intervention, and informs policy development. Over time, Actsure helps reduce conflict, foster equality and good relations, and reinforce higher education as a trusted space for open inquiry and democratic debate.
