Watchdog warns suppliers to disabled students over price-fixing

The Competition and Markets Authority has written to a number of firms warning them over price-fixing of supplies to disabled university students in the UK.

The CMA said it was concerned that some suppliers of key services and equipment used by disabled students had colluded over pricing, a serious breach of competition law that can cheat people out of a lower price.

Disabled students receive funding through the Disabled Student Allowance grant scheme, managed by the Student Loans Company (SLC), for a specialist equipment allowance and other services.

An independent assessor makes recommendations for products and services along with quotations from suppliers to the SLC, which then works with students to arrange the support.

According the CMA, the SLC may have paid over the odds for certain goods and services because some suppliers agreed prices before providing quotations.

This activity could also have reduced the overall amount that disabled students have available for purchasing equipment via the scheme, according to the CMA.

In response, the SLC said it had begun changing the way it procures goods and services for disabled students to limit price-fixing, through increasing price transparency and competition.

The CMA said it had not made any legal finding about whether competition law had been broken but was keeping the sector under review and might take “further action if these concerns are not fully addressed”.

Michael Grenfell, the CMA’s executive director of enforcement, said: “Healthy competition is the cornerstone of getting the best deal, so we are concerned if companies might be doing something to threaten that. It is particularly troubling in this case if the interests of disabled students are affected, and if public funding is hit.

“We trust that the letters we have issued, and today’s announcement, send a clear message. Any suppliers engaging in price-fixing with competitors, or other illegal collusion, need to review their practices and make changes now.”

anna.mckie@timeshighereducation.com