London weighting for teaching to be axed

Allowance will be scrapped for teaching grant, but science minister denies similar plans for research

The government has asked the Office for Students to scrap a London weighting allowance that sees universities in England’s capital receive a higher share of teaching grant allocations. But there are no similar plans for research funding, according to the science minister.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said in his annual guidance letter to the OfS that while London providers “face some higher costs, these reflect the overall weighting of the UK economy towards London, and it is not clear they can be justified when excellent higher education provision can be delivered across the country”.