Universities that pressure students into accepting unconditional offers face being fined or even deregistered.

The Office for Students (OfS) has warned higher education providers that indiscriminate use of unconditional offers is akin to pressure-selling and could put them in breach of consumer law.

The warning comes as new research from the OfS highlighted the rise in unconditional offers in England, and looked at the impact of the practice on students’ decision-making.

The paper looks at unconditional offers that guarantee an applicant a place with no conditions, and “conditional unconditional offers” - those that become unconditional if an applicant makes the offer their firm choice.

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of the OfS, said: “We are concerned about the rapid rise in unconditional offers, particularly those with strings attached, which are akin to pressure-selling.”

She added: “If we identify cases where unconditional offers are having an obvious negative impact on students’ choices or outcomes, we are, of course, prepared to intervene.”

Unconditional offers ‘affect students’ A-level grades’

Yesterday Tes revealed that about half of students support government regulation of unconditional offers.

The OfS can impose additional specific ongoing conditions on universities, as well as formal sanctions like financial penalties, suspension from the OfS register or deregistration in the most extreme cases.

The data from the report shows the number of offers with an unconditional component made to 18-year-olds has risen from 3,000 in 2013 to 117,000 in 2018.

According to the research in 2013, no conditional unconditional offers were detected, but more than 66,000 were made to 18-year-olds in 2018.

The research also shows that applicants who accept an unconditional offer are more likely to miss their predicted A-level grades by two or more grades.

A spokeswoman for Universities UK said: “While initial evidence suggests that some students with unconditional offers achieve below their predicted A-level grades, these offers are also more likely to be made to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds, and can impact positively on these individuals’ mindsets as they approach life at university.”

Education secretary Damian Hinds said: “The steep rise in unconditional offers across a wide range of subjects is disturbing, and I believe that widespread use of these offers is not in the best interests of students, who should be encouraged to reach their full potential.”