Essay-writing services, known as essay mills, are to be made
illegal under plans announced by the government on 5 October
2021.
The government intends to make it a criminal offence to provide,
arrange, or advertise any essay-writing services for financial gain
to students taking a qualification at any institution in England
providing post-16 education, including universities.
The move follows a number of steps already taken by the
government to protect academic integrity from the effect of essay
mills. In 2018, 46 university vice-chancellors wrote a joint letter
calling for essay-writing services to banned, and the government
worked with the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education,
Universities UK and the National Union of Students to produce
guidance on how institutions could counter the threat of contract
cheating, and for students to make them better aware of the
consequences (which might include removal from their course of
study or expulsion from their
