The Office for Students has reissued an order to grant the LTE Group degree awarding powers after it incorrectly authorised an online retailer with a similar name.
The higher education regulator made the blunder earlier this summer and granted degree awarding powers to LTE Group Limited, a Manchester-based e-commerce company.
The powers were meant to go to UCEN Manchester, a higher education provider part of the LTE Group, which said it has not been affected by the mix-up since the July order that is due to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The Office for Students (OfS) admitted the “drafting error” to Parliament’s joint committee on statutory instruments in August and requested a correction slip to change the name on the order or issue a new order.
“The order should have authorised ‘LTE Group’ (a registered higher education provider) to grant awards, not ‘LTE Group Limited’ (a separate and unrelated entity which is not a registered higher education provider),” the letter to the committee said.
In September, the OfS issued a new order to the correct LTE Group and has since reviewed and strengthened its internal drafting processes to avoid another slip up.
An OfS spokesperson said: “There was a drafting error on the order, which we are now looking to rectify.
“The order is not due to take effect until January so currently has no practical effect. We will resolve the error as soon as possible and we have also reviewed our processes to avoid this mistake being repeated in future.”
Michael Walsh, Dean of UCEN Manchester, told FE Week: “The degree awarding powers (DAPs) order is not due to come into effect until January 1, 2026, so we have been unaffected by the Office for Students’ drafting error. They have now issued a new DAPs Order (made on September 17, 2025) referring to the correct LTE Group and we have continued to work on developing our own degrees in the interim.”
UCEN Manchester offers close to 100 courses across 12 subject areas, ranging from access to higher education diplomas to Bachelors of Arts.
Walsh added: “We are grateful for the OfS’ prompt work to address this matter, and are looking forward to validating our own courses across UCEN Manchester’s creative and technical higher education provision. This is a significant landmark in our journey that indicates the quality of our courses and demonstrates our future ambitions.”
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