essay writing illegal uk

Blog The Education Hub

This blog post was published under the 2015-2024 conservative administration.

https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2022/04/28/essay-mills-are-now-illegal-skills-minister-calls-on-internet-service-providers-to-crack-down-on-advertising/

Essay mills are now illegal - Skills Minister calls on internet service platforms to crack down on advertising

Skills Minister Alex Burghart has written to internet service platforms to make sure they know that essay mills - which facilitate cheating by helping academic writing, often by appearing to be legitimate - have been made illegal and to call on their support in making sure they can no longer advertise online. Here you can read that letter.

The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill has become law. Through this act, the Government has legislated for landmark reforms that will transform post-16 education and skills, including criminalising essay mills.

As you may know, Essay Mills are online platforms that facilitate contract cheating. Contract cheating happens when a third party completes work for a student which is passed off by the student as their own work. Many essay mill companies use marketing techniques which indicate they are offering ‘legitimate’ academic writing support for students. Reports also indicate that some essay mills seek to blackmail students who use these services. It is right that we have legislated against these insidious crimes.

It is now a criminal offence to provide or arrange for another person to provide contract cheating services for financial gain to students taking a qualification at a post-16 institution or sixth form in England, enrolled at a higher education provider in England and any other person over compulsory school age who has been entered for a regulated qualification at a place in England.

Similarly, it is now an offence for a person to make arrangements for an advertisement in which that person offers, or is described as being available or competent, to provide or arrange for another person to provide a cheating service. Importantly, the offence centres around the act of advertising to students, and for the offence to be committed it does not need to be seen by its target demographic.

There is now a strengthened, collaborative effort across the sector to tackle essay mills and we want you to be part of this campaign. Platforms such as yourself play an integral role in helping us to make the most effective use of the legislation; marketing and advertising are the lifeblood of any successful industry. We are aware that high numbers of essay mills have used your platform to promote their services to students in the past, paying for advertising to promote their companies. Essay mills are now illegal entities, and you should not carry their advertising. It is no longer a moral question; you will be facilitating an illegal activity. I ask you to do everything in your power to prevent the advertising these unscrupulous practices.

Removing essay mill access to online marketing will seriously hamper their efforts to target vulnerable students and I implore you to do so following the introduction of this legislation. We must now all work together to capitalise on it.

I hope that in writing to you today I have underlined the urgency of this issue and the important role that companies like yours play in stamping out essay mills once and for all and am sure I can be confident in your support.

Thank you for your support with this important matter.

Tags: cheating , essay mills , internet service platforms

Sharing and comments

Share this page, related content and links, about the education hub.

The Education Hub is a site for parents, pupils, education professionals and the media that captures all you need to know about the education system. You’ll find accessible, straightforward information on popular topics, Q&As, interviews, case studies, and more.

Please note that for media enquiries, journalists should call our central Newsdesk on 020 7783 8300. This media-only line operates from Monday to Friday, 8am to 7pm. Outside of these hours the number will divert to the duty media officer.

Members of the public should call our general enquiries line on 0370 000 2288.

Sign up and manage updates

Follow us on social media, search by date.

Comments and moderation policy

Cookies on GOV.UK

We use some essential cookies to make this website work.

We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services.

We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services.

You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

Essay mills to be banned under plans to reform post-16 education

Unscrupulous ‘essay mills’ to be criminalised as part of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill

Services offering to provide students with essays for money, known as essay mills, are to be made illegal under plans announced by the government today (5 October).

The government intends to make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise these cheating services for financial gain to students taking a qualification at any institution in England providing post-16 education including universities.

The move is one of a number of measures being introduced to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill , to transform the skills and training landscape and help level up opportunities across the country.

The law will also be changed to give equality to technical education in careers advice in schools, so all pupils understand the wide range of career routes and training available to them, such as apprenticeships, T Levels or traineeships, not just a traditional academic route.

Minister for Skills Alex Burghart said:

Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do. We are taking steps to ban these cheating services. We have also announced a new measure to make sure all young people receive broader careers guidance so everyone can get the advice that’s right for them.

Banning essay mills will help to safeguard the academic integrity and standards of post-16 and higher education in England and protect students from falling prey to the deceptive marketing techniques of contract cheating services.

This follows a number of steps already taken to tackle unscrupulous essay mills, including government working alongside the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, Universities UK and the National Union of Students to produce guidance for institutions on how to combat the threat of contract cheating and guidance for students to make them better aware of the consequences, sending a clear message that these services are not legitimate.

Additional measures being introduced to the Bill include enabling sixth form colleges with a religious faith designation to become a 16-19 Academy, boosting diversity in 16-19 academies and allowing more faith school providers to open 16-19 academies with a religious character.

The Bill, which will enter its report stage in the House of Lord on 12 October, underpins the government’s transformation of post-16 education and skills as set out in the Skills for Jobs White Paper . The reforms outlined in the Bill will help to create more routes into skilled employment in sectors the economy needs such as engineering, digital, clean energy and manufacturing, so more people can secure well-paid jobs in their local areas, levelling up the nation and supporting communities to thrive.

Share this page

The following links open in a new tab

• Share on Facebook (opens in new tab)
• Share on Twitter (opens in new tab)

Updates to this page

Is this page useful.

• Yes this page is useful
• No this page is not useful

Help us improve GOV.UK

Don’t include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details.

To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab) .

Important notice: Essay writing services now illegal in the UK

Following a government reform, it is now illegal to use and/or provide contract cheating services.

On Thursday 28 April 2022, the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill became law, making it a criminal offence to engage in paid cheating services, often known as essay mills.

Essay mills offer students in Post-16 education plagiarism free essays and assignments in exchange for money.

The government has listened to calls for legislation and intervened to criminalise the provision of, and advertising of, cheating services. This aims to minimise the number of these essay mills in operation and to enhance activity already taking place to detect, deter and address incidents of cheating.

In a letter to Higher Education (HE) providers , Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Skills, Alex Burghart MP said: “Cheating of any kind is unacceptable. It not only threatens to undermine the reputation of our world-class higher education sector, but also devalues the hard work of those who succeed on their own merit.”

The university takes academic offences very seriously. Submitting work that is not your own can lead to expulsion.

We want to ensure that all DMU students are following academic regulations, which we outline  here .

The Centre for Learning and Study Support (CLaSS) team work with undergraduate, postgraduate and research students at DMU to provide support and guidance on a range of areas, such as planning assignments, how to approach critical analysis and how to improve your research and referencing.

You can access the CLaSS services here .

  Search news archive

Essay writing services now illegal

Under new UK legislation, providing or using professional essay writing services, or 'essay mills', is now a criminal offence. Students have been made aware of this via today's Student News. They have also been advised that using these services directly contravenes the University's code of conduct. If students are found to be using professional writing services, or passing off other people's work as their own, they will face serious disciplinary action. There are a range of resources available to students about  study skills and avoiding plagiarism  on the Oxford Students website. Colleagues are asked to reinforce these messages to students in their parts of the University.

Related links

• Insert some related links here
• or leave this WYSIWYG empty
• if you wish

BACK TO ALL NEWS

‘Unethical’ essay mills to be banned in England under Government plans

Essay mills are set to be banned in England under plans to reform post-16 education.

The Government intends to make it a criminal offence to provide, arrange or advertise essay-writing services for financial gain to university and college students.

Making essay mills illegal under new legislation will help protect students from falling prey to the “deceptive marketing techniques of contract cheating services”, the Department for Education (DfE) has said.

It is one of a number of measures being introduced to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill – which aims to transform further and technical education.

Careers education in schools will also be strengthened to ensure all pupils have opportunities to learn about all the technical education options available to them – including apprenticeships, T-levels and traineeships.

Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do

Skills Minister Alex Burghart

Skills Minister Alex Burghart said: “Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do.

“We are taking steps to ban these cheating services.

“We have also announced a new measure to make sure all young people receive broader careers guidance so everyone can get the advice that’s right for them.”

Essay mills, which are already illegal in some countries, make money by encouraging students to cheat in assessments.

Their services include providing students with ready-made essays to pass off as their own.

The Government hopes banning the services will help to safeguard the academic integrity and standards of post-16 and higher education in England.

It comes after former universities minister Chris Skidmore called for essay mill websites to be outlawed in February this year.

In June, the Government pledged to work with politicians on proposed legislation around banning essay-writing services.

Tory frontbencher Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay told peers there is a “strong case” to support institutions in dealing with the rising number of essay mills.

The law will also be changed to give equality to technical education in careers advice in schools, so all pupils understand the wide range of routes and training available to them, not just academic routes.

Additional amendments to the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, which enters its report stage in the House of Lords on October 12, includes allowing more faith school providers to open post-16 academies with a religious character.

A Universities UK (UUK) spokeswoman said: “We welcome this news. UUK has repeatedly called for essay writing services to be made illegal and we have worked together with Government, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and other higher education bodies to tackle their use.

“While the use of essay mills by students is rare, all universities have codes of conduct that include severe penalties for students found to be submitting work that is not their own.

“Universities have become increasingly experienced at dealing with such issues and are engaging with students from day-one to underline the implications of cheating and how it can be avoided.”

Gareth Crossman, head of policy and public affairs at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), said: “We’re delighted that the DfE has agreed to outlaw these unscrupulous outfits that threaten the integrity of UK higher education and prey on vulnerable students, and hope other UK Governments will also take action.

“This sends a clear signal but, with well over 1000 essay mills in operation, the sector must continue working together to put them out of business.”

A spokesperson for the National Union of Students (NUS) said: “These private companies prey on students’ vulnerabilities and insecurities to make money through exploitation, and never more so than during the pandemic.

“NUS has called on the Government to take action against them in the past, and I hope they are finally listening.

“In the meantime, we would urge universities to put in place academic and pastoral support so that students are never in the position of feeling they have to turn to essay mills in the first place.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

Essay-Writing Services To Be Made Illegal In England

Contributor.

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 place of study). The latest efforts to outlaw essay mills and other ‘contract cheating' has been welcomed by members of all parties and across the education industry, and hailed as safeguarding the academic integrity and standards of post-16 and higher education in England as well as protecting young people during their studies.

The  Skills and Post-16 Education Bill  (the ‘ Bill ') introduces this measure as a means to protect students from the “deceptive marking techniques of contract cheating services”. The Bill also aims to help level up opportunities across the country by transforming the existing educational landscape: alternative training and career routes, such as technical education, apprenticeships, T Levels or traineeships, are to be emphasised and given equal status alongside the traditional academic route (as set out in the  Skills for Jobs White Paper ).

Essay mills – given that they profit from committing academic fraud – are largely considered to be unethical, though they remain lawful in most countries. The UK follows in the footsteps of Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland by taking action against contract cheating.

Ghostwriting services are active globally, and often target students who are studying in a second language. The rise in demand for such services are likely the result of increased competition for university places, especially where coursework and open-book exams contribute to pivotal final grades. Ironically, these services encourage a lack of scholarship that sets students up poorly for further education.

The online learning environment that developed as a result of stay-at-home mandates during the Covid-19 pandemic meant that students became increasingly vulnerable to the lures of essay-writing services. As campus welfare and support became less accessible to students working remotely from home and motivation throughout the academic year dwindled as Zoom-fatigue set in, levels of online cheating exploded: the Quality Assurance Agency estimated in 2021 that there are at least 932 sites in operation in the UK, up from 904 in December 2020, 881 in October 2020 and 635 in June 2018. More brazenly, there are examples of essay mill service providers taking advantage of the difficult circumstances faced by students during the pandemic by offering 2-4-1 deals and other special offers to ‘help' students navigate a difficult and unusual few academic years.

While the proposals in the Bill are welcome, the measures do not amount to a full solution to online cheating. The International Journal for Educational Integrity has highlighted the increasing number of ways in which students wishing to circumvent rules on academic honesty may do so using technology. For example, the use of file-sharing websites to request assistance from others and receive answers to exam questions – in real time and during exam conditions – has risen by an estimated 196% in the year 2020-21 in STEM subjects. The Bill does not extend to Wales or Scotland, for whom education is a devolved matter: essay mills may yet target UK schools and universities and see plenty reason to maintain operations.

Gareth Crossman, head of policy and public affairs at the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, has touched on the length of the journey ahead, saying: “[the Bill] sends a clear signal but, with well over 1000 essay mills in operation, the sector must continue working together to put them out of business.” Only time will tell whether the measures, when implemented, are effective, and whether the government needs to go further to protect students from predatory academic practices in future.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Consumer Protection

United kingdom.

Mondaq uses cookies on this website. By using our website you agree to our use of cookies as set out in our Privacy Policy.

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

UK Edition Change

• UK Politics
• News Videos
• Paris 2024 Olympics
• Rugby Union
• Sport Videos
• John Rentoul
• Mary Dejevsky
• Andrew Grice
• Sean O’Grady
• Photography
• Theatre & Dance
• Culture Videos
• Fitness & Wellbeing
• Food & Drink
• Health & Families
• Royal Family
• Electric Vehicles
• Car Insurance Deals
• Lifestyle Videos
• UK Hotel Reviews
• News & Advice
• Simon Calder
• Australia & New Zealand
• South America
• C. America & Caribbean
• Middle East
• Politics Explained
• News Analysis
• Today’s Edition
• Home & Garden
• Broadband deals
• Fashion & Beauty
• Travel & Outdoors
• Sports & Fitness
• Climate 100
• Sustainable Living
• Climate Videos
• Solar Panels
• Behind The Headlines
• On The Ground
• Decomplicated
• You Ask The Questions
• Binge Watch
• Travel Smart
• Watch on your TV
• Crosswords & Puzzles
• Most Commented
• Newsletters
• Ask Me Anything
• Virtual Events
• Wine Offers
• Betting Sites

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

'Unethical' essay mills to be made illegal under new education reform

“private companies prey on students’ vulnerabilities and insecurities to make money through exploitation.”, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world

Sign up to our free morning headlines email, thanks for signing up to the morning headlines email.

Paid essay-writing services will be made illegal in England under new government plans to reform education.

Services that provide students with essays for a fee, known as ‘essay mills’, have become a problem at many universities but are not yet illegal in the UK.

Skills minister, Alex Bughart, said in a statement: “Essay mills are completely unethical and profit by undermining the hard work most students do. We are taking steps to ban these cheating services.”

There are over 1,000 essay mills in operation across the country according to the UK’s university standards watchdog - the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education - and a 2018 survey suggested that around one in seven graduates have used essay mills.

In response to the ban, a spokesperson from collective Universities UK said: “We welcome this news. UUK has repeatedly called for essay writing services to be made illegal and we have worked together with government, the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and other higher education bodies to tackle their use.

They added: “While the use of essay mills by students is rare, all universities have codes of conduct that include severe penalties for students found to be submitting work that is not their own.”

A spokesperson from the National Union of Students said: “NUS firmly opposes essay mills. These private companies prey on students’ vulnerabilities and insecurities to make money through exploitation, and never more so than during the pandemic.

“NUS has called on the Government to take action against them in the past, and we hope they are finally listening. In the meantime we would urge universities to put in place academic and pastoral support so that students are never in the position of feeling they have to turn to essay mills in the first place.”

This is just one of the new measures being put in place under the post-16 education reform, with other actions including changes to careers advice and support for apprenticeship, traineeships and other forms of technical education.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

• My Independent Premium
• Account details
• Help centre

• Work & Careers
• Life & Arts

The essay mills undermining academic standards around the world

To read this article for free, register now.

Once registered, you can: • Read free articles • Get our Editor's Digest and other newsletters • Follow topics and set up personalised events • Access Alphaville: our popular markets and finance blog

Explore more offers.

Then $75 per month. Complete digital access to quality FT journalism. Cancel anytime during your trial.

FT Digital Edition

Today's FT newspaper for easy reading on any device. This does not include ft.com or FT App access.

• Global news & analysis
• Expert opinion

Standard Digital

Essential digital access to quality FT journalism on any device. Pay a year upfront and save 20%.

• FT App on Android & iOS
• FT Edit app
• FirstFT: the day's biggest stories
• 20+ curated newsletters
• Follow topics & set alerts with myFT
• FT Videos & Podcasts

Terms & Conditions apply

Explore our full range of subscriptions.

Why the ft.

See why over a million readers pay to read the Financial Times.

• Bournemouth
• King's
• University of East Anglia

Essay writing services have now been made illegal in the UK

Confirmed: That diss really isn’t going to write itself

The government has made it illegal for online services to write essays on behalf of students in exchange for cash.

As part of the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, so-called “essay mills” will be outlawed in the hope of preserving “academic integrity” at university.

Writing in The Times today, minister for skills Alex Burghart said: “If some students are receiving qualifications based on work that is not their own, then it undermines the entire system. And it is brutally unfair on the vast majority of students who work hard to achieve the grades.”

He adds: “This immoral practice has been corroding the prestige and academic integrity of education for too long. The time has come to beat the cheats and bash the bullies.”

It’s estimated that currently there are 1,000 essay mills in operation, with a 2018 survey revealing that 15.7 per cent of recent UK graduates had admitted to cheating.

Essay mills claim to offer plagiarism-free essays with websites saying things like, “If you need help, we’ll write the entire paper or any chapter you need!”

The National Union of Students, who helped campaign for the ban, has heralded its success, highlighting the potentially predatory nature of essay mill websites.

NUS Vice-President for Higher Education Hillary Gyebi-Ababio said: “For too long, students – especially international students – have been preyed upon by these companies. They have often been blackmailed and intimidated when they’ve been at their most vulnerable. Having called for government action a number of times in the past, I am proud of  NUS ’ role in stopping this cruel practice.

“But students should never have been in the position where they feel they must turn to essay mills in the first place. The government must work with universities to ensure that adequate academic and pastoral support is provided for all students.”

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Three out of four students no longer support striking lecturers after marking boycott

• Student loan system changes: One in four black students could be barred from university

• Revealed: One in three Russell Group university bosses received pay rises last year

I learned the best interview habits to land my dream job by practising with the Meta Quest 3

This is a serious game changer

It’s been just over a year since those Lizzo allegations, so what’s the singer up to now?

From the Met Gala to Bali, here’s what she’s been up to during her ‘gap year’

Inside the lavish filming locations of The Perfect Couple on Netflix

Someone take me here I beg

Inside Pioneertown: The genuine wild west town owned by Selling Sunset cast member Alanna

But this is genuinely the most iconic thing ever

Right, what is pentobarbital from Netflix’s The Perfect Couple and is it actually a real drug?

It’s a crucially important part of the show

Netflix has cleared up why everyone is randomly dancing at start of The Perfect Couple

It’s such a tone shift

It’s over! Ronnie and Harriett have finally split just weeks after leaving Love Island

We all saw this coming a mile off

The Perfect Couple opening dance sequence caused ‘mutiny’ and ‘meltdowns’ amongst the cast

I don’t blame them tbh

Another Love Is Blind UK couple SPLITS and Cat reveals REAL reason why Freddie blocked her

The show may be over but the drama has only just begun!

The Jeremy Kyle Show inquest leaves bleak reflection: How was it still airing only five years ago?

A dark stain on British TV history

Here’s how to use the changing hair colour filter that’s all over TikTok right now

The blonde blindness is real

Get to know model Alanna Gold: The new cast member making a major mark on Selling Sunset

I’m sorry, but the fact she owns a fully functioning wild west town is insane

Camila Cabello just dropped new music and these lyrics could be about Sabrina Carpenter

Can Friends Kiss feels like a clap back to Taste

A look at the crimes of Worst Ex Ever’s Mei and Rosa and where they are now

The mother and daughter who inflicted lies and violence in a battle for custody

Erm, this Temu croissant lamp might be an actual pastry after TikToker took bite out of it?!

She claims the lamp was actually just a real croissant covered in resin

These are the best UK unis right now according to the Daily Mail’s new uni rankings

Number one is so rogue

Here are the most iconic and memorable items you can buy in the Game of Thrones auction

Brb, replacing my work desk with the Iron Throne

These 19 Gilmore Girls production secrets and facts are just as good as the show

No, they didn’t drink that much coffee

Explaining the saga of Taylor Swift bestie Brittany Mahomes coming out as a Trump supporter

Trump just made a huge post thanking her for the support

This colour perception test is so hard only one per cent of people get full marks on it

I guess I should’ve gone to Specsavers

These are the most horrifying uni flatmate stories, according to Reddit

I lost all faith in humanity while reading these

George RR Martin’s close friend reveals his real opinions are far more intense than his post

‘I heard his full scope of opinions on HOTD and and what he said in his post was very mild’

• Uni Reviews
• Student Guide
• Student stories
• UK Survival Service

The risks of using essay writing agencies

This article was updated by the Great British Mag content team on 20 October 2021. 

Have you seen essay writing agencies advertised and been tempted to give them a try? Keep reading to get a better understanding of what essay writing agencies are, how they work and the implications of using them can have on your university education. 

What are essay writing agencies?

As a student, you probably have essay writing agencies very much on your radar. They advertise themselves relentlessly to university goers and seem to offer the perfect solution to tight deadlines.

If their marketing attempts have passed you by so far, a quick Google will pull up countless agencies that promise high-quality easy writing, editing and proofreading services for all levels of higher education. 

For a fee, you can give the agency your essay title and any details you have on what should be included in the content, and they’ll have one of their writers complete it for you within a matter of days.

Are they legal to use?

The UK government announced in June 2021 that it is putting legislation in place to make essay writing agencies that provide pre-written or custom-made essays for students to present as their own illegal. England is leading on implementing these changes. 

Do universities prohibit the use of essay writing agencies?

Absolutely – and they take it very seriously. In fact, there have been several calls over recent years from university leaders for the government to ban ‘essay mills’ (which the agencies are sometimes known as) entirely. In some countries like New Zealand, they’re actually illegal. 

That said, some essay writing agencies frame themselves as providing educational support, in the same way that a private tutor might. They state that the essays they provide aren’t for handing in and passing off as your own work, but for using as a basis from which to research and write your own essay. That makes the legal waters murkier. 

What do universities consider as cheating?

Handing in work that has been completed by someone else is definitely considered cheating – this includes getting a friend or family member to write your coursework for you, as well as going to an essay writing agency. 

Despite this, a   study by Swansea University revealed more students than ever were paying for third parties to write their essays. It found that potentially as many as one in seven recent graduates from around the globe, which equates to around 31 million, had engaged in cheating in this way. 

Indeed, a poll on Instagram that we recently ran suggested that around 25% of our student followers had handed in an essay that they didn’t write themselves. 

Covid-19 seems to have caused an uptick in people using these services too, says Dr Thomas Lancaster , senior teaching fellow at Imperial College London, who has conducted several studies on the topic and actually coined the term ‘contract cheating’, which is what this form of cheating is often referred to as. 

“The pandemic hasn’t helped with the situation. From my own research, we’re seeing many more requests for contract cheating services now than we were before Covid-19 disrupted the sector,” he says. 

With students having to grapple with remote learning, a lack of access to libraries and less face-to-face teaching time, it’s no wonder that more are resorting to using essay-writing services. But no matter the circumstances that cause people to turn to this kind of servive, it’s very much still considered to be cheating. 

How much do essay writing services charge?

This varies hugely depending on the agency, the academic level the essay is for and how close the deadline is. We’ve seen services advertised from as little as £4 for a 2:2 level essay with a long deadline, and up to £260 for a 3,000 assignment with a quick turnaround. 

It’s worth remembering that if a deal on an essay writing agency website sounds too good to be true, it likely is. The cheapest companies will often use writers from overseas whose written English might not be up to scratch. That could not only impact the quality of the essay, but also make it obvious that it’s been written by someone else. 

How likely am I to get caught? 

In all honesty, identifying paid-for essays isn’t easy for university professors. Even if a university does have its suspicions, it’s not a straightforward offence to prove. That said, it’s certainly not impossible – and with cases on the up, more university staff are on high alert of fraudulent submissions.

There is new technology emerging too, specifically designed to detect essays written by third parties. And it’s improving all the time, says Lancaster.

“It works by identifying how we all write. We’ve all got a unique style and it shows in how complex our language is, the words we use too much, indicators like that. If you suddenly then hand in something written with a different writing style, that’s suspicious. 

“There are quite a few detection methods in development that show promise and often there are all sorts of little clues that the university can piece together and use to work out whether the student is submitting work they have done themselves.”

What will happen if I am caught?

Getting caught is perhaps the biggest risk you run – it could ruin your university career. 

While each university is responsible for setting out its own procedure for dealing with cheating (you’ll likely find a page about it on your university’s website), be warned that they all take it very seriously. It’s considered a major violation of academic standards. 

Think about it: for institutions to be handing out degrees to people who aren’t qualified is hugely problematic. They’re breaching the national standards of these respected qualifications, meaning their reputation and status as a higher education provider is very much at stake. 

If you’re suspected of cheating, it’s likely you’ll be interviewed and asked to provide evidence that you wrote the essay in question yourself (think notes and previous drafts). If the allegations hold up after that, it could result in a disciplinary hearing and, ultimately, your expulsion from the university. 

Yep, this is a serious offence and one that could cut your time at university very short. 

What are the other risks?

Expulsion isn’t the only risk you run if you decide to hand in an essay that you didn’t write.  First, of course, there is no guarantee as to the quality of the essay you’ll be supplied with by the agency – you could easily still fail. 

“The writers who work for these agencies tend to be badly paid, so their incentive is to write as quickly as possible, not produce high-quality work,” says Lancaster. “They’ll take shortcuts. They add meaningless content to pad out the word count and make up references.”

So don’t be shocked if, after forking out for a professional writer to secure you a great grade, you still flunk. 

Then there’s the issue that by not studying for one piece of coursework you’re on the back foot for the next assignment – and the next. 

“Students become dependent on these services,” says Lancaster. “They’ve missed out on the learning. And once they’re on a company’s customer list, they’re going to be receiving marketing messages again and again.”

Yes, there is the chance that you pay for an essay, get a killer grade and live happily ever after – but there’s also a lot that can go wrong. 

What should I do if I’m struggling with my studies? 

If you’re struggling with your studies and feeling overwhelmed, talk to your university. There might be ways that they can support you and help ease the strain you’re feeling over coursework and deadlines. You may not need to risk your university career by buying your coursework.  

If it’s the language aspect that is causing you stress and making essay-writing a nightmare for you, then speak to your university – they may well have opportunities you can make the most of to improve your English, such as online courses. There will also be an International Student Support service at your uni, who can help with any non-academic issues that are getting in the way of your studies – everything from visa stresses to feeling at home in your new city. 

If you have any learning differences, like dyslexia, you might be entitled to extra support, so make sure your tutors are aware of the situation. The same goes for if you are experiencing personal problems that are impacting your learning – depending on the situation you might be offered more time to complete work, as well as other forms of help. 

You may also like to read

How to get support for learning differences at university

How can I access mental health support?

Tips on how to successfully prepare for an exam

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

What is freshers week, how many hours can international students work in the uk, the innovator visa – explained, privacy overview.

What is the cost of studying in the UK?

Can students apply for the eu settlement scheme.

• Original article
• Open access
• Published: 26 December 2019

Are essay mills committing fraud? A further analysis of their behaviours vs the 2006 fraud act (UK)

• Michael J. Draper 1 &
• Callum Reid-Hutchings 1  

International Journal for Educational Integrity volume  15 , Article number:  11 ( 2019 ) Cite this article

4701 Accesses

5 Citations

5 Altmetric

Metrics details

Many strategies have been proposed to address the supply of bespoke essays and other assignments by companies often described as ‘Essay Mills’ with the act of supply and use being invariably described as ‘contract cheating’. These proposals increasingly refer to the law as a solution in common with other action. In this article, the lead author revisits work undertaken in 2016 as a result of recent legal and extra-legal developments to assess whether the UK Fraud Act (2006) might now be used to tackle some of the activities of the companies involved, by comparing their common practises, and their Terms and Conditions, with the Act. It was previously found that all sites have disclaimers regarding the use of their products but there were some obvious contradictions in the activities of the sites which undermined those disclaimers, for example plagiarism-free guarantees for the work. In this article, we ask and consider the question whether this is still the case having regard to the impact of a change in the law by the UK supreme court and recent action of the UK Advertising Standards Authority. We also consider whether a call for a new offence to be created which specifically targets the undesirable behaviours of these companies is still justified.

In this article we consider the development of law and policy in the area of contract cheating and in particular, whether or not recent changes in UK law, action taken by the Advertising Standards Authority and the guidance issued by the Quality Assurance Agency for the UK (QAA 2016 , QAA 2017 ) have had an impact on the knowledge and state of mind of UK registered companies engaged in supplying essays to students for financial gain and the consequences for the operation of the Fraud Act 2006.

Our findings in relation to the action taken by the Advertising Standards Authority have a wider implication for the current debate in relation to proposed legislative responses to contract cheating across the common law world, in particular Australia and the Republic of Ireland.

In earlier work, Draper et al. ( 2017 ), and Draper and Newton ( 2017 ) considered the main actors in contract cheating: a student, their university, and a third party (often a company or ‘Essay Mill’) who completes assessments for the former to be submitted to the latter, but whose input is not permitted. They also considered the legal consequences that might apply to such arrangements. Those legal consequences focussed on the operation of the Fraud Act 2006 and the relationship with the legal test of dishonesty necessary to establish criminal liability on the part of an Essay Mill under that Act.

Since the original work was undertaken there have been several critical developments in relation to essay mills in the UK. As noted above these involve a change in the law on dishonesty, action taken by the Advertising Standards Authority and guidance published by the quality assurance agency for the UK.

We undertook further and new research to update and expand upon our 2016/2017 findings to determine whether or not these developments have had an impact in the manner in which Essay Mills operate. Given the potential consequences of continuing to operate as usual in the context of these developments we thought it reasonable to assume that a fundamental change to the business model of Essay Mills and the terms and conditions under which they operate would be evident.

Assessing guilty minds

New case law has demonstrated and reaffirmed how knowledge may be attributed to Essay Mill companies in order to determine their potential criminal liability. Criminal liability usually requires that the defendant have a guilty state of mind, a criminal mental element which lawyers call ‘ mens rea’.

The Fraud Act 2006 (UK Government E 2006 ) has 16 sections but one general offence of fraud which may be committed in 3 principal ways:

section 2 (fraud by false representation),

section 3 (fraud by failing to disclose information), and

section 4 (fraud by abuse of position).

The guilty state of mind necessary to secure a successful prosecution for the purposes of these sections is focussed on the dishonesty, intention and knowledge of the perpetrator. As Essay Mills tend to operate commercially through a company demonstrating that a company has a guilty state of mind is essential if a criminal prosecution is to succeed. The knowledge of the directors and other principal officers of an Essay Mill must be attributable to the company and this critical issue has recently been considered by the UK Supreme court.

In Jetvia v Bilta (2015, UKSC 23) the Supreme court determined when the knowledge of a director will be imputed to the company. The court held that imputation is sensitive to the particular facts of any case but as a matter of general principle the knowledge of a director will usually be imputed to a company when considering whether a company has committed a criminal offence.

Of particular relevance to our discussion are the observations of Lord Sumption:

“English law might have taken the position that a company, being an artificial legal construct, was mindless. If it had done that, then legal wrongs which depended on proof of some mental element such as dishonesty or intention could never be attributed to a company and the present question could not arise … .. It cannot be emphasised too strongly that neither in the civil nor in the criminal context does this involve piercing the corporate veil. It is simply a recognition of the fact that the law treats a company as thinking through agents, just as it acts through them.”

That the law treats a company as thinking though agents is reinforced by section 12 of the Fraud Act 2006 which provides that an offence is committed by a company if the offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of a director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the company. Importantly the section goes on to provide that such individuals are also guilty of the offence and liable to prosecution and punishment.

Therefore human agents such as directors of an Essay Mill cannot escape liability and prosecution under the Act by hiding behind corporate personality and action claiming that the guilty mind and action is that of the company and not theirs.

Furthermore those directing the operation of Essay Mills should note that a company may take civil action against its directors for any loss suffered by the company as result of the actions of its directors.

The key question ‘When the directors of a company involve it in a fraudulent transaction, is the company barred by the doctrine of illegality from suing them and their accessories for losses caused by their breach of fiduciary duty?’ has been answered by Jetivia v Bilta with an emphatic ‘No’ .

The fiduciary duty of a director is to act in the best interests of the company in circumstances of absolute trust and loyalty. Consequently directors of Essay Mills are on notice that if a company suffers loss as a result of a breach of the law the company may take action legal against those directing or operating the company to recover its losses as they have failed to act in the best interests of the company. A Director cannot claim that their knowledge is attributed to a company and therefore provides a defence of corporate illegality in any action brought by the company against a director for wrongdoing.

Jetvia v Bilta also confirmed that s.213 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (UK Government E 1986 , which allows liquidators to seek a contribution from any person who was knowingly party to fraudulent trading by the company) has extra-territorial effect. Claims may be brought against any person across the globe “ at least to the extent of applying to individuals and corporations resident outside the United Kingdom.”

Draper et al. 2017 called for the creation of a specific criminal offence in relation to Essay Mills that had extraterritorial effect because many Essay Mills are legally established outside of the UK but operate within the UK through digital services and platforms.

The case therefore supports the argument that in cases of fraud both the law and the courts will not object on the grounds of principle and are capable of facilitating a criminal prosecution in relation to activity taking place outside of a legal jurisdiction, provided there is an established relationship or activity with the legal jurisdiction in question.

New law of dishonesty

Having established that both a company and its directors and principal officers may be held liable for criminal activity through the construct of a guilty mind, we turn now to consider how the legal test for dishonesty in the UK has fundamentally altered and the consequential potential impact on the liability of Essay Mills and their agents under the Fraud Act.

The Explanatory Note to the Fraud Act 2006 states:

“Section 2 makes it an offence to commit fraud by false representation. Subsection (1)(a) makes clear that the representation must be made dishonestly. This test applies also to sections 3 and 4. The current definition of dishonesty was established in R v Ghosh [1982] Q.B.1053. That judgment sets a two-stage test. The first question is whether a defendant’s behaviour would be regarded as dishonest by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people. If answered positively, the second question is whether the defendant was aware that his conduct was dishonest and would be regarded as dishonest by reasonable and honest people.”

In the article ‘Are Essay Mills committing fraud? An analysis of their behaviours vs the 2006 Fraud Act (UK) (Draper et al. 2017 ) the difficulties of using the Fraud Act 2006 to take action against Essay Mills was demonstrated primarily because Essay Mills protect themselves in their terms and conditions by stating that their products are only to be used as a ‘reference work’ or equivalent, and must not to be submitted as the student’s own work.

Thus, the second question of R v Ghosh (1982, 1 QB 1053),whether the defendant was aware that conduct was dishonest etc., would probably not be satisfied.

The UK Supreme Court in Ivey v Genting Casinos (2017, UKSC 67) has revisited the test of dishonesty with significant consequences for the Fraud Act and Essay Mills.

The court has removed the subjective second question of the test for dishonesty and adopted a refined and straightforward test: does the relevant conduct fall below an objective standard of honesty?

In our view, Essay Mills should have been alerted by this decision to the fact that behaviour will now be judged to be “honest” or “dishonest” simply by the objective standards of ordinary, reasonable and honest people. In particular, the guidance given in Ivey by Lord Hughes on the application of the test of dishonesty in relation to criminal offences should be noted:

“When dishonesty is in question the fact-finding tribunal must first ascertain (subjectively) the actual state of the individual’s knowledge or belief as to the facts. The reasonableness or otherwise of his belief is a matter of evidence (often in practice determinative) going to whether he held the belief, but it is not an additional requirement that his belief must be reasonable; the question is whether it is genuinely held. When once his actual state of mind as to knowledge or belief as to facts is established, the question whether his conduct was honest or dishonest is to be determined by the fact-finder by applying the (objective) standards of ordinary decent people. There is no requirement that the defendant must appreciate that what he has done is, by those standards, dishonest. ”

The above analysis of dishonesty was strictly speaking not a binding part of the decision but offered up by way of explanation. However the analysis is important as it points in the strongest terms to a significant change from the previous standards of dishonesty. The clear intention of the Supreme Court means that trial judges may adopt the Ivey test of dishonesty on the assumption that the Court of Appeal would prefer Ivey over Ghosh , as was acknowledged in DPP v Patterson (2017, EWHC 2820).

Indeed this approach has now been approved by the Court of Appeal in the 2019 case of Group Seven Limited & Ors v Notable Services LLP & Orsin (2019, EWCA Civ 614). As we discuss in further detail later on this means that a finding of dishonesty in relation to Essay Mills is more likely because they will simply be judged by an objective standard of dishonesty.

However will Essay Mills persist in relying on their terms and conditions as an ‘industry’ wide standard providing them with a defence against an allegation of dishonest practice?

Most likely they will but the recent case of Carr v Formation Group (2018) confirms that this will not be a viable defence. Under the old test for dishonesty, it was possible to call expert evidence to show that conduct, however dishonest, was ‘market practice’ (or that ‘everybody was doing it’) in order to demonstrate a lack of subjective appreciation that it fell below an objective standard of dishonesty.

Morgan J explained that this could result in some significant consequences for the proper conduct of business. As he succinctly put it in the judgment (at paragraph 32):

“ The history of the markets have shown that, from time to time, markets adopt patterns of behavior which are dishonest by the standards of honest and reasonable people; in such cases, the market has simply abandoned ordinary standards of honesty.”

In other words, it would be perverse to let “markets” decide their own interpretation of honesty and then be judged by that .” The defence of ‘everybody in this was doing it’ is no longer available and this will have an impact across a wide range of industries such as Essay Mills where ordinarily ‘dishonest’ or misleading working cultures and practices have developed.

These practices are often most visible by the advertising employed by businesses and we now turn to developments in this area as a result of action taken by the UK Advertising Standards Authority (‘ASA’) in relation to the advertising of Essay Mills.

ASA rulings

Since July 2016, there have been three referrals to the ASA which we will now address. It is important to keep in mind that many of the observations made are equally applicable to advertising standards in a number of countries.

The first referral to the ASA was made by the QAA in relation to certain aspects of the advertising used by UK Essays. The ASA ruling on All Answers Ltd. t/a UK Essays was delivered on 21.3.18 (ASA 2018 ) and related to not uncommon advertising:

“The home page featured text that stated “ … GUARANTEED GRADE, EVERY TIME We’re so confident you’ll love the work we produce, we guarantee the final grade of the work. Unlike others, if your work doesn’t meet our exacting standards, you can claim a full refund … LOVED BY CUSTOMERS & THE GLOBAL PRESS UK Essays have lots of press coverage from all over the world confirming that a 2:1 piece of work produced by us met this standard … We were the first company in the world to offer you guaranteed 2:1 and 1st class work”.

Additional information about the service was included on pages titled ‘WORLD CLASS GUARANTEES’ and ‘UK ESSAYS IN THE PRESS’.

The QAA asserted that:

The advert was misleading, because they believed it did not make sufficiently clear the risks associated with submitting purchased essays; and

The references to the press coverage that UK essays received misleadingly implied that they had received positive coverage or endorsement from those press outlets.

The ASA considered that consumers would expect from the advert that they could submit purchased essays as their own that would meet the ordered grade without risks, which was not the case. They therefore concluded that the advert was misleading and the complaint was upheld. Furthermore, the ASA considered that the manner in which the quotes were presented was likely to give an overall impression that UK Essays received positive reviews or coverage from the sources referred to and again the complaint was upheld.

Interestingly, in relation to the point made on press coverage above, when accessed on the 16 July 2019, there is a quote on the UK Essays website on the ‘press coverage’ tab from The Guardian newspaper (a quality UK broadsheet). It reads “if you consider that the difference between a 2.1 and a 2.2 can be thousands of pounds on your starting salary, the incentives are obvious ”. This quote may suggest that using the services of UK Essays has a value. The quote is taken from a Boris Johnson article in 2006 (Johnson, 2006 written before his elevation to UK Prime minister) in which he refers to ‘ cheats ’ and that it makes him feel ‘ queasy ’.

As UK Essays stated in its response to the ASA investigation, the original press publications are readily available on their press coverage tab. However, the Boris Johnson article is available at the very end of the page, in much less bold text. Arguably, it is harder to find than other articles. The article is entitled ‘ the unbearable triteness of cheating’ . The quote they have used certainly does not seem to match the general tone of the article and a customer might think that UK Essays had received a positive review in this article.

The ASA explicitly directed UK Essays to stop presenting advertisements from press coverage and other published sources in a manner that was not reflective of the tone and content of those sources. This may not have been acted upon.

There has been another QAA referral in relation to the advertising by Essay Writing Services UK. The ASA ruling against Thoughtbridge Consulting Ltd. was delivered on 7.11.2018 (ASA 2019 a). The similar issue of being able to submit the essay as your own essay was flagged, as well the grade guarantee advertisement.

“ the home page included text on the home page which stated “Get the grades you Need and Achieve More Today! … GRADE GUARANTEE Get the grade you ordered first time, or your money back Plagiarism Free, Free plagiarism report with every order … Only for you The work you order will never be re-used or re-sold ”.

It was asserted that:

“Get the grade you ordered”, “Plagiarism free” and “The work you order will never be re-used or re-sold” misleadingly implied that consumers could hand the essay in as their own; and

“Grade guarantee Get the grade you ordered” was misleading and could be substantiated.

The ASA considered that consumers would expect that they could submit purchased essays as their own without risks from the advert, which was not the case. They therefore concluded that the ad was misleading and the claim was upheld. Furthermore, they considered that whilst the information was available on the “Guarantees page”, consumers could go through the process of purchasing an essay without being given this detailed information, and therefore it could be overlooked. It was further considered that it was not clear to consumers that the claim “Grade guarantee “Get the grade you ordered first time, or your money back” meant that if the consumer paid to have their work marked by Essay Writing Service UK and did not achieve the indicated grade they were eligible for a refund, rather than that if they handed in the essay they purchased it would achieve the grade for which they had paid. Therefore, the ASA concluded that the claim was misleading.

In our research the terms and conditions on Essay Writing Services UK could not be accessed. It is assumed one would have to put ‘additional info’ in on the order page to get to the terms and conditions. Given the fact it is hard to find any trace of any terms and conditions, it is considered that this would be an impediment for a student who is not actively looking for them.

The most recent ruling by the ASA was delivered on 9 January 2019 against The Oxbridge Research Group Ltd., known commonly as Oxbridge Essays (ASA 2019 b). There were two separate issues, both being upheld. The website included claims on the home page which stated “With Oxbridge Essays, it has never been easier to get the grades you’ve always wanted … First class? 2:1? No problem. We work with over 1,900 of the UK’s best academics to make sure you get the grade you want … Get better grades We’ll send you the product you have ordered on your chosen delivery date - it’s that simple ”. Further text on a page headed “Dissertation writing services ” stated “We put the time and effort into making every piece of work we write the best it can be - and the results speak for themselves … Your dissertation will include everything your university requires: introduction, research question, chapter outlines, literature review, methodology, analysis, recommendations and conclusion … Whatever standard you choose, we guarantee the work will be to that standard … Oxbridge-educated academics The vast majority of our writers have studied or taught at the UK’s two best universities, Oxford and Cambridge”.

The ad misleadingly implied that students could submit an essay they bought as their own; and

The claim “The vast majority of our writers have studied or taught at the UK’s two best universities, Oxford and Cambridge” was misleading and could be substantiated.

The ASA considered that consumers would understand from the advert that they could submit purchased essays as their own without risks, and the website did not make sufficiently clear that was not the case, concluding that the advert was misleading and the claim was upheld. They also considered that consumers would interpret the claim ‘the vast majority of our writers have studied or taught at the UK’s two best universities Oxford and Cambridge” to mean that almost all of the writers who wrote for Oxbridge Essays had either completed a degree or taught at either Oxford or Cambridge universities. Given the fact only 71% of the writers had either studied or taught at Oxford or Cambridge, it was considered not to be sufficient to meet consumers expectation based on the advertising claim, that almost all writers had a degree from, or had taught at, one of those universities, and that it was more likely than not that an essay would be written by a writer from one of those universities. The ASA therefore concluded that the claim was misleading and again the claim was upheld.

Given the potential consequences of continuing to operate as usual in the context of the change in the law relating to the legal test of dishonesty and the ASA rulings it is reasonable to assume that a fundamental change to the business model of Essay Mills and the terms and conditions under which they operate would be evident. We therefore sought to assess and test this assumption by revisiting and expanding earlier research.

Have essay Mills changed their business model?

In the first 2017 article, the commonly observed practises of some UK based essay-writing companies along with their terms and conditions of supply were compared to sections 1–7 the UK Fraud Act 2006 to determine whether or not these companies were committing an offence under these sections of the Act.

Twenty six sites operated by 21 apparently distinct companies were analysed; each had separate listings at UK Companies House. The identity of the specific companies were not included for publication for the following reasons: 1. not wanting to further advertise the services of these companies, either through publication or through any publicity associated with it. 2. there was no guarantee that the company number given on these websites was actually that of the company which ran the site. In some cases, the names were the same but in others this was not the case. 3. The content of the article was academic opinion and not the basis for legal proceedings. We have adopted the same principle in this article.

In July 2016, the websites of those companies (Table  1 ) were accessed to address a series of questions), which would then allow for consideration of the relevant sections of the Fraud Act. Questions were addressed by one author with cross checking by another. Table 1 is reprinted for ease of reference and comparison with new data.

In July 2019, we adopted the same methodology described above when updating results for the purposes of this article. The websites of those companies were accessed to address a series of questions (Table  2 ) which would then allow us to consider the relevant sections of the Fraud Act. Questions were addressed by one author with cross checking by a second. For the final question, “Is the advertising potentially misleading (compared to disclaimer/terms + conditions)?”, the authors considered the advertising to be misleading if it (for example) gave an overall impression that work purchased from the site could be submitted as if it were a student’s own work, without citing the company. A similar approach has also recently been adopted by the ASA, as we discuss below.

Our main conclusion is that UK registered essay mills have not significantly altered their terms and conditions since July 2016. However, there are some differences of note.

Six websites have either been taken down or not accessible since the original research, which explains the fewer number of sites considered by our current research.

There has been an increase in the number of websites which we consider to be misleading (gives the overall impression that work purchased from the site could be submitted as if it were a student’s own work) having regard to advice given in the ASA rulings: a rise from 31% to 68%. This is significant for our discussion on behaviours that might be objectively considered dishonest that follows later in this article.

As previously noted Essay Mills have a disclaimer in their terms of use on the website or in their terms and conditions. However, during our current research some terms and conditions could not be easily found, or personal details had to be registered in order to gain ‘additional info’ where it is assumed that terms and conditions are located. This too is an apparent change in practice and the reason for the percentage reduction in the tables from 100% to 88%.

The plagiarism free guarantee and qualified writer guarantee are inducements that these websites continue to deploy but again with a notable reduction in relation to the plagiarism free guarantee (100% offer down to 84%).

There is a reduction in the number of sites that allow a student to specify a grade. The reason for this may be explained by the fact that some companies guarantee a particular quality but not a grade. It would be inappropriate to characterise this as a ‘grade guarantee’.

A point of note is that there is now one website which no longer offers academic writing. It only provides free essays and the terms and conditions specifically state that they no longer offer academic writing services. This might be attributable to the impact of the ASA rulings. It is certainly a welcome development.

Changes in practice due to ASA rulings

The issues identified by the ASA in relation to Essay Mill websites are not unique to the UK and will have much in common with sites in other jurisdictions such as Australia, New Zealand and the Republic of Ireland.

Our Findings from Table 2 note that have been changes and we have sought to contextualise these changes having regard to the key issues identified by the ASA. Therefore Table  3 identifies the key issues addressed by the ASA in their rulings against the three essay mills noted above. We have looked at the current content of all the UK registered websites researched (so far as we able to do so) and questioned whether they clearly adopt the spirit or intention of the rulings of the ASA. We offer a reminder at this point that our interpretation is academic opinion and not a basis for further action by the ASA or otherwise.

The ASA considered it critical that Essay Mills should make it clear to customers at the point of order that they cannot submit purchased work as their own without risks. Our review indicates that this crucial recommendation has not been adopted in the manner intended (bringing this to the attention of students at point of purchase) and that the companies continue to rely on their terms and conditions to avoid liability or to carry key injunctions in areas of the website away from the order page (and therefore potentially unread by a purchaser) whilst also using familiar inducements in relation to guarantees and press coverage but in a revised format.

In our academic opinion, UK registered Essay Mills may be non-compliant in varying degrees with the ASA guidance in their current format as Table 3 demonstrates. If so and having regard to the change in the law relating to the legal test of dishonesty the question arises whether or not Essay Mills are operating in a dishonest manner.

Are essay Mills operating dishonestly?

The first point to note that although the majority of UK registered Essay Mills may have a website or advertising considered misleading for the purposes of advertising standards this does not of itself necessarily amount to dishonest behaviour for the purposes of the Fraud Act.

Essay Mill websites in the UK continue to provide familiar guarantees, for example, ‘100% plagiarism free’ and they do not appear to prioritise on their order page a clear warning that that the essay should not be submitted as the customers’ own work. Some websites draw attention to ‘model answers’ or are to be used ‘to inspire one’s own work’. However, this warning is not given prominence. Many outline this important injunction in the FAQ section or refer to it once in a small part of the home page. Having regard to the ASA rulings, such critical warnings should appear on the order page so that the student can clearly see it before committing to purchase. Does a failure to do so matter?

The answer is Yes. Although not inherently dishonest the above would be factors to be taken into account when making an objective finding of dishonesty. It should be remembered that any finding will depend upon the facts of and evidence available in any particular case.

Removing the entirely subjective second part of the two-stage test of dishonesty removes or at least lessens the possibility that an Essay Mill of questionable moral standing with their own personal code of honesty will escape liability under the Fraud Act. The key question then is would the behaviour and practice of an Essay Mill in a particular case be considered dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people?

The answer to this question will depend not simply on terms and conditions of business or nuanced judgements as to the overall ‘misleading’ tone of the website. Significant weight will be attached to the direct inducements and ‘chat’ that often takes place between students and Essay Mill prior to purchase as to how the student may use the essay. It can be said with some certainty that statements or ‘chat’ as to permitted use or other inducements which contradict terms and conditions of business are likely to be viewed as dishonest. We tentatively suggest that the change in the law of dishonesty which took place at the end of 2017 does not appear to have had a significant impact on the terms and conditions of UK registered Essay Mills as evidenced by Tables  2 and 3 above.

However a cautionary note is that the test in Ivey takes into account the defendant’s knowledge and belief, and therefore it is not a straightforward objective test and an outcome of a finding of dishonesty is not therefore entirely certain.

Whilst dishonesty is important for establishing the section 2 offence, another option that could be used to prosecute Essay Mills is Section 7 of the Fraud Act which makes it an offence to make, adapt, supply or offer to supply any article knowing that it is designed or adapted for use in the course of or in connection with fraud, or intending it to be used to commit or facilitate fraud. Section 8 extends the meaning of “article” so as to include any program or data held in electronic form. This should include an essay stored or supplied electronically by an Essay Mill. For a section 7 offence to be committed dishonesty on the part of the Essay Mill is not required, only knowledge of or an intention to commit or facilitate fraud will suffice.

“Knowledge” in Section 7 (1) (a) is a strict requirement although in practice, the use to which the article (essay) can be put is likely to provide sufficient evidence of the Essay Mills state of mind. Furthermore, as noted above, the publicity and media attention over student use of supplied essays would lead to a reasonable conclusion that an Essay Mill has relevant knowledge for the purposes of the offence ie that the student will beyond doubt submit it is as their own work.

However, the manufacture of articles (essays) that are capable of being used in or in connection with fraud but have other innocent uses (eg study aids tutoring or proof reading services) will probably not fall foul of this section unless the manufacturer intends that the essays should be used in a dishonest way (Section 7 (1) (b)). The terms and conditions of business will mitigate against the commission of an offence as essays are usually required to be used in a legitimate manner although again publicity in connection with how students are actually used and some of the advertising used by some of the Essay Mills may mean that s.7 is a viable prosecution option particularly again having regard to the ‘chat’ and other inducements prior to purchase noted above.

The key issue here relating to a guilty mind is that liability under s.7 depends on knowledge and intention rather than dishonesty. Does this matter? We have noted above that Ivey takes into account the defendant’s knowledge and belief in concluding whether or not dishonesty exists so the concept of knowledge is as important for section 2 as it is for section 7 of the Act.

So, what is knowledge for the purposes of the criminal law? Stephen Shute, ( 2002 ) states that all (criminal) offences which incorporate ‘knowledge’ of a specified proposition as a necessary element for their commission appear to require that the ‘known’ proposition be true. Shute also makes reference to the doctrine of wilful blindness, set out in Roper v Taylor’s Garage (1951 2 TLR 284, supported by R v Hall, 1985 81 Cr App 260), which suggested that ‘shutting one’s eyes to an obvious means of knowledge or deliberately refraining from making inquiries, the result of which the person does not care to have’ is in law ‘actual knowledge’. When supplying an essay does an Essay Mill refrain from making inquiries as to its use because they do not want to hear the answer that it will be used as a submission for an assessment – particularly given the common knowledge that must now exist as to likely use?

Deliberately not asking the question because you might not like the answer can be distinguished from merely neglecting to make inquiries. Neglecting to make inquiries is not knowledge (i.e. not asking a student what they intend to do with the essay will not amount to knowledge of the student’s intention to submit the essay as their own if they do so).

However, Shute concludes that the doctrine of wilful blindness is and should be treated as anomalous, he makes reference to the decision in R v Moys, (1984, 79 Cr App R 72) which seems to confirm that suspicion, even great suspicion, should not be held equivalent to belief. A belief must be correct in order to be considered knowledge. Otherwise, the exact definition of knowledge is not certain, and allows for flexibility depending on the context of the offence it is applied to.

Therefore, it is unclear what level of knowledge is required to establish criminal liability and it is unclear whether the doctrine of wilful blindness (I didn’t ask whether the student was going to submit the purchased essay and therefore I didn’t ‘know’ as my terms and conditions state that a student must not take this action) could be applied to knowledge in a criminal context.

This all means that liability under the first limb of section 7 for writing or supplying an essay for use in connection with fraud may be difficult to establish in relation to an Essay Mill although each case would turn on its own facts and in particular the ‘chat’ that may have taken place between the Essay Mill and student before or at the time of transacting in relation to the use of the essay.

Section 7 in its second limb relies upon intention (an intention that the essay be used in connection with fraud) as the basis of liability. R v Woollin (1999 1 AC 82) sets out the generally accepted definition for intention. It has been accepted that intention means either acting to bring about a particular result or acting in the face of the acknowledged virtual certainty that a particular result will come about (direct/indirect intention). However, Lord Steyn clearly states that “it does not follow that ‘intent’ necessarily has precisely the same meaning in every context in the criminal law. This means that intention may be taken to mean something other than purpose/foresight of virtual certainty in other contexts, such as under the Fraud Act. The key question here is whether or not Essay Mills intend an essay be used by a student in submission for an assessment.

In the context of media and other attention and the information required from students in relation to grade and essay title, then whilst arguably Essay Mills are wilfully shutting their eyes to the obvious it is by no means certain that there is sufficient proof for criminal liability under the second limb of section 7 on the basis that they intended the submission of the essay by the student. Their terms and conditions say something very differently but again, each case would turn on its own facts and the ‘chat’ that may have taken place between the Essay Mill and student before or at the time of transacting in relation to the use of the essay. These evidentiary challenges in relation to knowledge and intention are likely to mitigate against a prosecuting authority taking action under section 7 of the Fraud Act 2006.

Is criminal prosecution likely?

We have demonstrated that recent legal rulings make it easier to impute the knowledge of human agents to corporate Essay Mills and the context of QAA guidance and ASA rulings, as well as associated media attention, may assist in making a finding of dishonesty under the revised objective Ivey test in relation to the Fraud Act more likely. We have also demonstrated that other offences requiring knowledge and intention may be brought into play having regard to the chat and inducements that frequently occur prior to student purchase although the evidentiary challenges remain significant hurdles.

Furthermore action under the Fraud Act is on a case-by-case basis and requires the Crown Prosecution Service to bring a prosecution. The Crown Prosecution Rervice is a UK government agency employing lawyers who are responsible for examining police evidence, deciding whether to take criminal proceedings through to court prosecution stage and preparing cases for court and conducting prosecutions.

There are still a number of practical obstacles and questions to the use of the Fraud Act. The competing priorities of the Crown Prosecution Service is one such obstacle. An academic marking an essay becomes suspicious that a student has used an Essay Mill, does that academic become an investigator of a possible criminal offence? Should staff now call the police? How long would a case take and what would happen to the students and staff in the meantime? Where and how would evidence be collected; Does a university virtual learning environment become a crime scene? Many of these questions and practicalities arise because when the Fraud Act is applied; it would necessarily involve the student concerned and staff in determining whether there was a prima facie case and subsequently a successful prosecution.

These practical and evidential obstacles will militate against a criminal prosecution. If criminal prosecutions are unlikely due to practical and evidential challenges then these difficulties support the creation of a new criminal offence that is directed at the supply side and not the student demand side of the business model of Essay Mills.

Argument for a new law

For all of the above reasons, we maintain that a change in the law is required and that the central argument of the article ‘ A legal approach to tackling contract cheating? holds good.

Draper and Newton ( 2017 ) detailed a draft law, which could be used to outlaw the provision and advertising of essay writing services and would address the limitations identified above by targeting contract cheating at source; the Essay Mills themselves. This proposed new criminal offence relies on the legal principle of ‘Strict Liability’, which would simply make it an offence to offer contract cheating services, regardless of dishonesty, knowledge or intent.

There remains a strong public interest in ensuring that (for example) the doctor, engineer or lawyer has obtained their qualifications via learning they undertook themselves rather than bought from an Essay Mill. Essay Mills should not be able to obfuscate that ‘the terms and conditions say students should only use our bespoke custom written plagiarism-free guaranteed grade assignments as a ‘reference work.’

Strict Liability would ensure that the following is an offence:

“completing for financial gain or financial reward in whole or in part an assignment or any other work that a student enrolled at a Higher Education provider is required to complete as part of a Higher Education course in their stead without authorisation from those making the requirement”.

This principle would be extended to include the arrangement and advertising of such services. A Strict Liability offence would reverse the burden of proof and place the cost of the defence on the Essay Mill – a mill would be guilty of a criminal offence by mere fact of supply unless they establish a defence which is a much stronger deterrent and an provides an easier route to prosecution.

To establish a defence of due diligence we suggest that an Essay Mill would as a minimum have to remove plagiarism free guarantees, cease writing to a specific title and grade and give a clear warning at the point of purchase as to permitted use of the essay and the risks of failing to comply. All pre-purchase chat and reassurances as to use which contradict terms and conditions of business would have to end. An Essay Mill might even be required to submit the essay to a database which could be searched by text matching software of the type used by educational institutions and advise a student purchaser that this would be done.

Recent research published by Newton ( 2018 ) in Frontiers in Education, demonstrates that Essay Mills continue to thrive with students continuing to use their services. Anna McKie writing in the Times Higher Education (Mckie 2018 ), notes that UK registered essay mills wilfully continue to trade as:

“ … … essay mills are not illegal in the UK – as the UK Essays website points out, ‘we would have been shut down a long time ago’ if they were … …

The article by Draper and Newton ( 2017 ) was the only research cited to the then UK Education Minister in a 2018 letter signed by over 40 Vice Chancellors of UK Universities, calling for Essay Mills to be banned by the law.

Australia is seeking to pass new legislation (Amigud & Dawson 2019 ) and the Republic of Ireland has recently done so. Both countries operate similar criminal offences in relation to fraud as the UK and both have elected to adopt new legislation to combat Essay Mills because of the challenges faced with using existing fraud laws.

The Republic of Ireland passed an Amendment Bill in July 2019, which introduces changes to the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012. Section 43A of the Amendment Bill will provide a statutory basis for the prosecution of those who facilitate cheating by learners; who advertise cheating services and who publish advertisements for cheating services.

The Amendment Bill does not directly provide for extraterritorial effect but will enable conversations with platforms such as Google and Facebook that continuing to host ‘marketing’ and ‘advertising’ material for Essay Mills will be in breach of that platforms operational terms and conditions in relation to posting illegal material. Indirectly therefore extraterritorial effect is achieved.

In circumstances in which Essay Mills frequently operate across national boundaries this indirect outcome and the in-principle support offered by Jetvia v Bilta (2015) for the creation of an offence that has extra-territorial effect will alleviate concerns over displacement and off-shoring of Essay Mill services.

The continued complexities of the Fraud Act: the precise nature of the new objective test of dishonesty, the meaning of knowledge and intention for the purpose of certain offences and the application of these concepts alongside the terms and conditions of Essay Mill websites and the direct marketing and ‘chat’ to which students are subjected (often contradicting key terms and conditions), are strong arguments for bespoke legislation that avoids these complexities through utlilising the principle of strict liability in order to address contract cheating for financial gain. This is particularly the case if we are to avoid students being the subject of criminal prosecution (students could be caught by the revised test of dishonesty and thus commit fraud through submission of a purchased essay) and in order to focus the resource and attention of prosecuting authorities on Essay Mills.

Although welcome, we have also demonstrated through Tables 2 and 3 , that the ASA rulings have not significantly changed the behaviours of UK registered Essay Mills. The only reasonable conclusion is that if we are to stop the activity of Essay Mills in the UK then we have to adopt the solution hinted at by UK Essays 2018 website – we have to make their services illegal.

We therefore submit that not taking action to create a new bespoke offence targeting Essay Mills in the UK in relation to contract cheating for financial gain and the advertising of such services is no longer an option.

Availability of data and materials

The original research data upon which the Tables in this article are based is held by the Lead Author. The data will not be shared for the following reasons:

1. The data is based on academic opinion of publicly accessible documentation linked to UK registered companies. 2. We do not want to further advertise the services of these companies, either through publication or through any publicity associated with it. 3. We had no guarantee that the company number given on these websites is actually that of the company which runs the site. 4. The content of our article is academic opinion and not the basis for legal or other proceedings.

Abbreviations

Advertising Standards Authority

Crown Prosecution Service

Quality Assurance Agency

Amigud A, Dawson P (2019) The law and the outlaw: is legal prohibition a viable solution to the contract cheating problem? Asses Eval Higher Educ. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2019.1612851

Article   Google Scholar  

ASA (2018) Advertising Standards Authority Ruling on Complaint Ref: A17-4. Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/all-answers-ltd-a17-394574.html

Google Scholar  

ASA (2019a) Advertising Standards Authority Ruling on Complaint Ref: A18 -7 . Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/thoughtbridge-consulting-ltd-a18-452244.html

ASA (2019b) Advertising Standards Authority Ruling on Complaint Ref: A18-10. Retrieved November 23, 2019, from https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/the-oxbridge-research-group-ltd-a18-458914.html

Draper MJ, Ibezim V, Newton PM (2017) Are Essay Mills committing fraud? An analysis of their behaviours vs the 2006 Fraud Act (UK). Int J Educ Integrity 13(1):3. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-017-0014-5

Draper MJ, Newton PM (2017) A legal Approach to tackling contract cheating. Int J Educ Integrity. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-017-0022-5

Johnson, B. (2006) ‘The unbearable triteness of cheating’. In The Guardian October 17 2006 Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/education/2006/oct/17/highereducationuk

McKie, A. 2018. ‘Can Universities beat contract cheating?. In Times Higher Education September 13 2018 Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/can-universities-beat-contract-cheating

Newton PM (2018) How Common Is Commercial Contract Cheating in Higher Education and Is It Increasing? A Systematic Review. Front Educ. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00067

QAA. (2016) ‘Plagiarism in Higher Education - Custom Essay Writing Services: An Exploration and next Steps for the UK Higher Education Sector’

QAA (2017) “Contracting to Cheat in Higher Education – How to Address Contract Cheating, the Use of Third-Party Services and Essay Mills”

Shute S, Simester AP (2002) Criminal Law Theory. Oxford University Press; https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261387500013234

UK Government E (1986) Insolvency Act 1986 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/45/contents . Accessed 23 Nov 2019

UK Government E (2006) Fraud Act 2006 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/contents . Accessed 23 Nov 2019

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the contribution of Hannah Hutchison a law student intern in 2018 to the investigation of essay mill websites and background law upon which the data in this article is based.

Originality and review status

The authors confirm that this work is original and has not been published elsewhere, nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Not applicable. There are no sources of funding for the research reported.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Hillary Rodham Clinton School of Law, Swansea University, Singleton Park Campus, Swansea, UK

Michael J. Draper & Callum Reid-Hutchings

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

The authors are solely responsible for this article. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript. This article was written by the lead author with support from the second author who undertook the most current primary investigation of the essay mill websites upon which the data in this article is based. The methodology is described in the main body of the article.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael J. Draper .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Draper, M.J., Reid-Hutchings, C. Are essay mills committing fraud? A further analysis of their behaviours vs the 2006 fraud act (UK). Int J Educ Integr 15 , 11 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-019-0050-4

Download citation

Received : 06 August 2019

Accepted : 04 December 2019

Published : 26 December 2019

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-019-0050-4

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Contract cheating
• Fraud essay mill

International Journal for Educational Integrity

ISSN: 1833-2595

• General enquiries: [email protected]

Get the Reddit app

Got a question about going to uni in the UK? Want to find out more and speak to others about their course/uni? Not sure if you can eat something that's been loafing in your fridge for 3 weeks, and gone a dubious shade of purple-green? This is the place for you. If you want to post a survey for your dissertation, please make sure your post includes all information required by the rules linked in our wiki!

What are your views and experiances on the Illegal essay writing Industry?

Have you or any of your mates used it? What are your views and experiances?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOSVW8rGZTk&t=6s

Degrees For Sale: Inside The Essay Writing Industry: Students On The Edge (BBC)

By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy .

Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app

You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account.

Enter a 6-digit backup code

Create your username and password.

Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it.

Reset your password

Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password

Check your inbox

An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account

Choose a Reddit account to continue

• All vacancies
• Jobs London
• Jobs Liverpool
• Jobs Manchester
• Jobs Bristol
• Jobs Leicester
• All locations
• Part time jobs
• Evening jobs
• Weekend Jobs
• Internships
• Summer Jobs
• Graduate Jobs
• Apprenticeships
• Work from home jobs
• Job categories
• I am an employer
• About StudentJob
• CV Examples and Tips
• No Experience CV Examples and Tips
• Cover Letter Examples and Tips
• Job Interview Questions and Tips
• All Application Tips
• Free CV maker
• Info about ages
• Employee Rights
• Employment Contracts
• Perks at Work
• Salary and Tax
• Well-being at Work
• Netherlands
• Switzerland
• Professions Guide
• Summer jobs
• Graduate jobs
• Weekend jobs
• Popular jobs
• Jobs in the Netherlands
• Jobs in Portugal
• Jobs in Greece
• Jobs in Spain
• Jobs in China
• All jobs abroad
• Work with us
• Place a vacancy
• Search our CV database
• Employer tips
• Recruitment guide

STUDENTJOB BLOG

Are essay writing services legal.

Universities and colleges have become highly competitive institutions. Starting from the admission process until the very last exam, students stress about deadlines, grades, hectic schedules, internships, internal scoring. Currently, many students are forced to start preparing for college way before the application term begins. No surprise, one in six students seeks help and order an essay from a professional writing service online.

Even though it's a commonplace practice, a lot of students are still not sure if essay writing services are legal and safe. Let's debunk all myths surrounding writing services and sort it out once and for all if it's legal or not to pay someone to do your homework.

Register now with StudentJob

Do you want to be kept up to date on the latest jobs for students? Register for free on StudentJob.

REGISTER     CREATE YOUR FREE CV

Reasons Why Custom Essay Writing Services Are Legal

To keep it short, yes, it's completely legal to order writing services from a professional writer online. Here is a more elaborated answer to why essay writing services are legitimate.

Writing Services Conform to the Law

First of all, no existing national law says the opposite. No law explicitly regulates writing services and impose any restrictions on who is eligible to use them and for what purposes. In 2018, more than 40 UK universities signed a petition asking the government to take measures and ban essay writing services. The US educational institutions also pushed the government to prohibit students from ordering papers online. But no specific legislation was passed yet in any of the mentioned countries.

The legal essay writing companies fall in the same category as the ghostwriting services. At its core, both services work in the same manner and don't fall into a grey area. In the end, it's not the questing of a student wanting to break the law and outsmart the system. It's an attempt to overcome challenges imposed by the professors and high expectations, CustomEssayMeiister , is just one of these services that provide essay writing services.

You Are the Owner of the Final Work

There are two tricky issues in regards to the writing services: copyrights and plagiarism. The legislation is pretty straightforward and strict regarding any intellectual property ownership rights. That's why services transfer ownership rights of any paper to the client. Since you're a legitimate owner of an essay, you're not breaking any copyright laws.

Another student's concern is plagiarism. Ordering an essay from another person doesn't mean you plagiarise it. The term plagiarism implies stealing someone else's work and calling it your own. Writing services emphasize that every work is written from scratch, is 100% unique, and properly-referenced. And as all ownership rights are handed over to you, it's more of a moral dilemma than a legal issue.

Confidential, Yet Transparent Industry

On the website of every reliable service, you'll find terms and conditions, service guarantees, and a privacy policy. These papers describe all aspects of service-client relations and provide you with guarantees. 

How You Use the Product

The only way to make it illegal is to break the rules mentioned in the terms and conditions. For example, you decide to resell or distribute your essay. All writing services mention that delivered essays must be used only for personal and non-commercial needs. But it's definitely not illegal, and there is no administrative punishment. 

Reaching out to writing services for professional help, you're not breaking any law. But it can be considered cheating by your university. Yes, you can be subjected to disciplinary proceedings in case you get caught. That's why it's important to choose a reliable and safe service.

Why Not Go with the First One You See

What can possibly go wrong? There is plenty of news about how fraudulent essay writing services sent hundreds of marketing emails to UK university students. Another article tells how services promising professional English-native writers end up being companies from Kenya.

Thus being said, you'll either send your information and money and never see an essay or get a low-quality paper and waste lots of time and nerves communicating with a company. Here are 6 things to look for when choosing a writing service.

Things to Consider Before Taking Help from Essay Writing Services

Making the right choice is probably the hardest part of the whole process. If you google search ´ write my essay ?´ you'll get more than 285 million results. Every link promises you an A-grade essay written by an expert in the field. You may also receive a couple of emails to your university inbox advertising tutor and writing services.

What Other Students Have to Say

The best way to find a reliable service is to ask friends and other students for recommendations. If you don't want others to know you're ordering essays online, there are other options. First, many services post samples on the website. Take time and look through a couple of them. You'll get the idea of the writing style and if a paper is well-structured and researched.

The next step is to look for students' testimonials and reviews. The problem is that no service want and will post brutally honest or negative comments. To see the full picture, you can check websites like EssaysAdvisor.com , where William Grabe exposes scammers and gives comprehensive reviews of the services. William isn't affiliated with any of them, even though he provides discount codes to some of them, and does it for years. So, you can be sure you'll get an honest opinion and learn all the pros and cons of any service. It's a good alternative if you don't want to ask around but still needs an honest review.

A Company Provides Plagiarism Reposts

100% uniqueness is an essential offering of all writing services. Before placing an order, check the guarantees that a company provides, ask questions. See if a company provides plagiarism reports. Another good sign is if a company offers a refund in case of plagiarism or any other mistake. Like any other business, it's the last thing a writing service wants. That's why it's an additional guarantee the company is confident in its writers and quality of service.

The last piece of advice: don't rush to submit a paper and double-check it for uniqueness with check-plagiarism , even if a service guarantees a high quality of their work. It's better to spend an additional couple of minutes than face problems later.

If a Writer Can Mimic Your Writing Style

Overall, there is no way a professor can spot if you ordered an essay from a professional writer. Placing an order, you can mention your requirements and preferences. The only thing that can give you away is your writing style.

Imagine you've submitted four papers this semester, and one of them differs so much that it leaves the impression someone else has written it. Then it's a matter of the professor if they decide to investigate it any further and confront you with their doubts. That's why check if a writer can adjust their writing style to match yours.

Another thing is to look for a specialist working with your level of academics. It might be tempting to hire the best to work on your paper. But the best doesn't always mean it's best for you. Suppose you hire a PhD holder to write your essay for the first year of your bachelor. First, it's a waste of money. Second, any professor can spot the difference and suspect something wrong.

Additional tip: after receiving an essay, slightly edit it to match your writing style. It's not a call to make mistakes intentionally, but rather change a couple of words here and there.

Your Personal Information Is Secure

There is a possibility that if services are too cheap, the company may earn a bit more by selling your personal information to third parties. Always check service privacy policy or use services that provide maximum confidentiality. To write an essay, a writer needs to know your level of education, topic, requirements, and preferences. They don't really need to know more about you, the university you go to, or the name of the professor. The most reliable services communicate with students via accounts on the website, so that a writer knew you only by your client number.

You Know Every Detail About the Process

It's a sign of a trustworthy service if it provides you with updates or gives you tools to keep an eye on the progress. Yes, you're paying for a service so that it helped you and freed you time, but don't distance yourself from the process completely.

Many services have 24/7 customer service ready to answer all your questions. Some open you a direct communication channel with your writer. Thus you can be sure the work is going, and you'll get your paper on time. In case you have additional information or new requirements, you can forward them to your writer.

The way a service communicates with the customers tells a lot about the quality of work you'll receive. You may not see the direct correlation between these two factors, but it all comes down to the level of professionalism.

A Writer Knows What They Are Doing

An abundance of writing services can be explained by the variety of services they provide. Some companies focus on college essay writing. Others specialize in nursing papers or scholarship motivation letters. A company with many writers on board can cover all needs you may have to start from high school until you get your Ph.D.

That's why one of the things to check before placing an order is to make sure the company can meet your needs and provide the services you are looking for.

Bottom Line

Essays writing services are completely legal and operate like any other service provider. They are registered entities and work under the existing legislation of your country. No laws restrict students from ordering essays online or seeking professional academic help. Those services provide a learning aid, and some students order only proofreading or editing services.

The services hand over all ownership rights and follow a zero-plagiarism policy. So you won't have any problems with copyrights or get a plagiarized paper. 

Even though all writing services are legal, not all of them are legit. That's why before placing an order, research what you are signing up for and read the reviews. 

Share this article

Popular posts.

PDF Guru: Best PDF Converter & Editor with Cutting-Edge...

  PDF is a format we are all dealing with at one time or another. It is universal, widely accepted, and highly compatible across a...

The Apple Student Discount: 101

Apple doesn’t offer discounts - or, at least, that’s the expectation. It’s not quite true. While Apple’s ethos seems to be that sales...

Optimism (Finally) in Tech Recruitment

While the idea that university will always lead directly to a job seems exaggerated these days, students leaving higher education over...

How to Leverage a Master’s in Data Analytics for Career...

If you've just earned your Master's in data analytics, you've equipped yourself with a powerful toolset to navigate the complex world of...

• Business Advice
• Career path
• Finding a job
• Job Application Tips
• Job interview tips
• Revision tips
• Saving money
• Student budget
• Student life
• Study and work abroad
• Work experience
• Work-life balance
• Working life
• Navigating the Murky Waters of Workplace Favouritism
• Mass Layoffs and Complex Reasons Behind Organizational Restructuring
• Unemployment Rates in the UK: An Overview of History, Figures, and Current Trends

Student Cities

• Jobs in Belfast
• Jobs in Bristol
• Jobs in Birmingham
• Jobs in Edinburgh
• Jobs in Glasgow
• Jobs in Leeds
• Jobs in Liverpool
• Jobs in London
• Jobs in Manchester
• Jobs in Newcastle
• Jobs in Nottingham
• Jobs in Sheffield
• Jobs in Southampton
• Advertise with us
• Candidate search
• Testimonials
• Find Part Time Jobs
• Find Holiday Jobs
• Find Internships
• Find jobs abroad
• Application tips

Search the site

Employer login

Free employer profile.

You can log in on StudentJob if you have made an account as an employer. Finding the right candidate for you is just a few clicks away.

Don't have an account as an employer?

Essay Writing Mills Illegal?

a1writer   3 | 293 ☆   Freelance Writer Feb 18, 2023 | #1 This is such an important topic I thought it warranted its own thread. As there seems to be confusion about the new legislation, I have posted a summary which hopefully clarifies the law. The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. It applies to England. The new Act includes a variety of measures relating to the post-16 education landscape, including new criminal offences aimed at stopping "cheating services", often informally known as "essay mills". In summary, there are two new criminal offences, namely: an offence of providing or arranging a relevant service in commercial circumstances; and an offence of advertising a relevant service to students. A "relevant service" is defined as: "a service of completing all or part of an assignment on behalf of a student where the assignment completed in that way could not be considered to have been completed personally by the student".

noted   6 | 1365 ☆☆☆☆☆   Feb 18, 2023 | #2 Thank you for the clarification about the law. It reads similar to a few other US state anti essay mill laws that I have come across but have not posted about yet. I'll be posting those in their own threads as well. As I consider you an authority on this UK educational law and its application, would you happen to know if any student Hass been successfully aacused or has any university brought an action against an existing essay mill in the UK to date? Have the teeth of these laws been tested yet in any scenario?

OP a1writer   3 | 293 ☆   Freelance Writer Feb 18, 2023 | #3 @noted quote 'It reads similar to a few other US state anti essay mill laws that I have come across but have not posted about yet. I'll be posting those in their own threads as well.' That sounds a useful and helpful thing to do. It is early days yet as the English law has only been in force since July 2022. The authorities are gathering evidence and have noticed some adverts on Twitter which are advertising these illegal essay mills. A great deal of effort has been undertaken to get this law in force, so I am sure there will be prosecutions in time. Just because some illegal writers and companies are based abroad, this will not deter the authorities from enforcing the law. Apart from scouring forums like this one, the authorities are calling for whistleblowers to contact them about any writers or companies whom they believe are breaking the law. As with everything else, it takes time and effort to build a case.

FreelanceWriter   6 | 2657   ✏ ☆☆☆☆☆   Freelance Writer Feb 18, 2023 | #4 Actually, the new British law to which you're referring expressly states that it doesn't target or criminalise students, at all. In fact, it specifically does the exact opposite, " ...to ensure that students that use essay mills are excluded from any liability by virtue of this legislation. " (p.58) assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1035459/Skills_and_Post-16_Education_Bill_November_2021_policy_notes.pdf Will this new legislation criminalise students who use these services? No. The offence is intended to target those providing essay mills commercially - it will not criminalise students who have used or are using these services . Though the students' actions do still constitute cheating this is a matter for the institution they are enrolled at to address. The Department for Education has been working closely with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the CPS to ensure that students that use essay mills are excluded from any liability by virtue of this legislation. (p. 58) In any case, as my most recent client from this forum has already indicated, I always strongly suggest and recommend to my clients that they use my work in ways that are consistent with applicable laws and with the honor codes of their institutions. They own the copyright to any work that I provide and I trust them, as autonomous adults, to make any related decisions for themselves and to know what's in their own best interests. You, of course, would have absolutely no way of knowing anything about my private communications with my clients. https://essayscam.org/forum/es/ukessays-complete-waste-time-894/ FreelanceWriter indicated that I now exclusively own the work, but he was quite clear in his recommendation that I use it only as a model for my own writing, not as a submission for marking.

noted   6 | 1365 ☆☆☆☆☆   Feb 19, 2023 | #5 Just because some illegal writers and companies are based abroad, this will not deter the authorities from enforcing the law. This is the part I am wondering about. Since the essay mills use the cover of protection that being located in a different country provides, how will these criminals be held accountable for their actions? Will the students be able to use the law at least to prosecute the essay mills in the UK that did not adjust their form of business? Or have these essay mills already changed business targets to better adhere to the law? In which case, the only problem will be the lack of jurisdiction of the law over overseas writers and companies?

OP a1writer   3 | 293 ☆   Freelance Writer Feb 19, 2023 | #6 @FreelanceWriter Where did I say that students were criminalised under this law? They will be dealt with under the Academic Misconduct Code set by their respective education establishments. Serious breaches of these Codes can lead to expulsion with zero credit and no refund of their fees. Universities in England can be notified en masse of potential cheating, just by the date the student has posted on forums that they are seeking writing services, the subject matter, etc. This targeted response helps universities identify specific instances of cheating within a narrow timescale. Advertising and providing illegal essay writing services is potentially catastrophic for students, leading to the destruction of their reputation and careers. Students are not criminalised, otherwise I would have pointed it out since I am familiar with the law and you are not. In fact I'm not sure whether you are just dense or deliberately misunderstanding the law. Your persistent point about advising your clients not to hand in the work as their own and complying with university rules, is totally irrelevant, You could insert a thousand caveats and disclaimers, but this still makes the service you advertise and provide illegal in the laws pertaining to England. Have you finally got that?

noted   6 | 1365 ☆☆☆☆☆   Feb 19, 2023 | #7 In fact I'm not sure whether you are just dense or deliberately misunderstanding the law. He is using the loophole "the law is subject to interpretation" so he is intentionally misinterpreting the law, bending it to suit his business needs. He is acting on behalf of the defense. His own defense that is. He must have tried, but failed to become a defense attorney. It appears that he isn't very good at lawyering so he did not even try at it as his primary career.

FreelanceWriter   6 | 2657   ✏ ☆☆☆☆☆   Freelance Writer Feb 21, 2023 | #8 He is using the loophole "the law is subject to interpretation" You should learn what the concept of a "loophole" is before posting such breathtaking foolishness. The fact that (all) laws are obviously subject to interpretation isn't a "loophole." While you're at it, you should also learn what "interpretation" means, as well. ...so he is intentionally misinterpreting the law, bending it to suit his business needs. I didn't offer any kind of "interpretation" about anything, whatsoever, much less "bend" anything. The PDF file to which I provided a link and from which I posted a verbatim quote is the 82-page " Skills and Post-16 Education Bill Policy Summary Notes " document published by the UK Department for Education to provide public guidance and answer questions about the new law, which, of course might explain that whole gov.uk/government part of that link. The most important takeaway for UK students is that the UK Department for Education itself specifically states that the law will never be used against any students or customers of the entities that it prohibits and that one would have to be a real idiot to either suggest or believe that any British "authorities" are busy scouring online forums to piece together the posts of totally anonymous users to identify customers of essay companies to notify universities "en masse" about violations. It's not like anybody is actually dopey enough to post using his own name or that of his academic institution or the actual titles of any courses involved or any assignment-specific details and due dates. The truth is that the law about which you're both going on and on about changes absolutely nothing for any students -- even UK students -- at all. Submitting work produced by others has always been a violation of university honor codes; but no "authorities" in England, or elsewhere, are going to start trying to identify any students using prohibited services. To the extent it is enforced, it will be exclusively against the commercial entities that it prohibits, and nobody is ever going to intrude on the privacy of students by authorizing the harvesting of any information posted by any students, even for that purpose, let alone to furnish that information to their academic institutions "en masse." The UK Police and Crown Prosecution Service are law enforcement organizations that investigate and prosecute crimes ; they're not engaged in the enforcement of any university honor codes, either directly or indirectly, such as by furnishing evidence gathered in criminal investigations to universities in connection with enforcement of their honor codes.

OP a1writer   3 | 293 ☆   Freelance Writer Feb 21, 2023 | #9 @FreelanceWriter Extract from website of University of Liverpool. What does the ban mean for students? Following the latest legislation, Essay Mills are now illegal and you should not engage with or respond to their advertising. In line with our Academic Integrity policy, students should not use any material provided as a result of an Essay Mills service in completing all or part of the assignment. Please be aware that while it is not a criminal offense to make use of a contract cheating service, this is deemed as 'severe academic misconduct' and could lead to disciplinary action by the University. What should I do if targeted by Essay Mills? Essay Mills will often disguise themselves as 'proofreading', 'tutorial' and 'academic support' services. They may target you via email, text, pop-up and social media advertising. If you receive this type of marketing you should: Delete it immediately Do not use click though links Do not offer any personal information or contact details If you need any academic or assessment support, please also remember that you can contact your School Office. You can find a range of online resources in the Know How area on Canvas and KnowHow also offer in person workshops to support the development of academic skills. As a starters, all students should complete this KnowHow tutorial to find out more about what academic integrity is and why it is so important. The Liaison Librarian for your subject can offer specialist subject support when researching for your assignments. You can book an online appointment with a Liaison Librarian online. FW ' The truth is that the law about which you're both going on and on about changes absolutely nothing for any students -- even UK students -- at all. ' Totally false again. It changes everything because the advertising and operation of essay mills (which accurately describes you), are now illegal in England. As a result of this law which criminalises the likes of you, information will become available as a result of enforcement of the criminal law, which can be passed to universities. This will help universities identify students who have cheated by using your services, for example. It's not scaremongering on my part. You know absolutely nothing about British law. There are statutory and common law freedom of information requests that universities or anyone can make to obtain information. There is increasing collaboration and co-operation between public bodies within England to stamp out such cheating. You are openly and brazenly breaching the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, which is a crime under English law.

FreelanceWriter   6 | 2657   ✏ ☆☆☆☆☆   Freelance Writer Feb 23, 2023 | #10 It's not scaremongering on my part. That's precisely what you're doing. I am familiar with the law and you are not. Perhaps, not quite as familiar as you think; otherwise, you'd realize that the law applies only to entities actually located in England and Wales. According to the same UK Department for Education document linked above: "The Bill extends to England and Wales and applies in relation to England only. In practice, this means that the offences can be committed in England and Wales ..." (p.57) So that law is totally inapplicable to me, on its face. It's also totally inapplicable to any students , even in England and Wales, because the UK Department for Education specifically says that it will never be enforced against students or other customers of prohibited entities. I don't know what's more stupid: your suggestion that British authorities are going to be cross-referencing the "dates" that totally anonymous users are asking general questions about finding trustworthy writers and essay companies to notify universities "en masse" about possible violations or Noted's completely ridiculous claims that some universities are now making "allowances" for ghostwritten assignments and that some professors are actually writing essays for students in (other professors') courses, because professors are "falling on hard times." I believe that universities may be catching on and have slowly provided allowances for such actions amongst their students. (Post #7) Due to some professors falling on hard times, some of them have also taken to writing academic papers for students. (Post #9) As usual, when I simply tried to ask Noted for the source of the information in his claim, he responded with indignation and told me that it was up to me to find that information about his ridiculous and totally made-up nonsensical claim for myself. I do not need to provide any evidence to you when the proof is all over the web for those who choose to look for it. I am not going to do that for you. ... You think I am lying? Then you prove it. (Post #11) https://essayscam.org/forum/wc/proof-cases-may-lead-american-companies-give-clients-1081/#msg85492 Likewise, I'm not expecting any kind of substantive response from you, either, other than (of course) more personal insults, totally unfounded fabricated accusations about me, and deflections, instead of simply providing the source of your made-up information about British authorities aggressively scouring online forums such as this one to try to identify students using prohibited services for the purpose of furnishing that information to universities "en masse." That's just a laughably stupid thing to suggest; if it isn't, simply share your source of that information.

OP a1writer   3 | 293 ☆   Freelance Writer Feb 24, 2023 | #11 @FreelanceWriter FW quote 'So that law is totally inapplicable to me, on its face'. Allow me to educate you in the law, yet again. October 2021. Australia's higher education regulator has won a court injunction against a foreign essay mill, in the first exercise of a 2020 law that prohibits contract cheating services. timeshighereducation.com/news/first-blood-australian-contract-cheating-law The regulator revealed in May 2021 that it had identified a test case to trial its newfound powers. It said at the time that the case would be submitted to the Federal Court "to test the legislation and inform our subsequent approach". The regulator said it was the first time it had taken action of this kind under a 2020 amendment to its legislation. " Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Teqsa) selected this website because we believed we were able to demonstrate its operators were in breach of Australian law, " chief executive Alistair Maclean said. The equivalent English law is in its infancy, but it may well look to a foreign based company or foreign based individual to pursue as a test case. Perhaps it will look to America for such a test case, particularly if a company or individual is acting illegally and has been notified to the authorities.

leatha_hahn   - | 1   Freelance Writer May 08, 2023 | #12 I can understand the frustration @FreelanceWriter FW quote 'So that law is totally inapplicable to me, on its face'. But it is important to remember that laws are in place to protect individuals and society as a whole. It is reassuring to see that actions are being taken to address contract cheating services, and that regulatory bodies are using their powers to enforce the law and protect the integrity of education. It is crucial that we continue to hold individuals and companies accountable for their actions, regardless of their location or nationality.

noted   6 | 1365 ☆☆☆☆☆   May 12, 2023 | #13 @leatha_hahn The main problem is that the laws are difficult to enforce when the writer is overseas. Such as in the case of FLW. He uses the cloak of international jurisdiction as his protection when advertising his services and soliciting students for work. If he decides at any time to turn on the student, the student, who is more than likely not locate in the USA or in New York, where he resides, will not be able to run after him in the courts. He is free to do as he pleases because of that loophole. There are no laws that cross countries to hold any writer, not just FLW, liable for any negative actions they may enact upon the students using their services.

OP a1writer   3 | 293 ☆   Freelance Writer May 23, 2023 | #14 As an experiment I typed Essay mills are banned in England into an A1 Essay Writer. I am impressed with the response. "Essay mills are companies that provide students with pre-written essays for a fee. These services have been a growing concern in the academic community, as they encourage plagiarism and undermine the integrity of education. In response to this issue, England has recently banned essay mills. This decision is an important step towards ensuring academic honesty and fairness. By prohibiting these services, universities can better protect their students from the temptation to cheat and maintain high standards of academic excellence. However, it is important to note that this ban alone will not solve the problem of academic dishonesty. Students must also be educated on the importance of original work and proper citation practices. Additionally, universities should provide resources for students who may struggle with writing or time management. Overall, the ban on essay mills in England is a positive development for academic integrity. It sends a clear message that cheating will not be tolerated and encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning".

FreelanceWriter   6 | 2657   ✏ ☆☆☆☆☆   Freelance Writer Aug 12, 2024 | #15 The use of essay mills absolutely is not a violation of the above-referenced law, because it doesn't apply to students, at all; it only criminalizes the furnishing of academic essays by essay providers. In fact, the UK Government could not possibly have made it more explicitly clear that students using illegal essay mills are completely excluded from any related liability, which it addressed quite directly in its own policy guidance at the time the law was first proposed in 2022. So, unless you're a provider of academic essays, that law doesn't apply to you in any way, shape, or form. Here's exactly what that policy guidance says on p. 58: "Will this new legislation criminalise students who use these services? No. The offence is intended to target those providing essay mills commercially - it will not criminalise students who have used or are using these services. ... The Department for Education has been working closely with the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the CPS to ensure that students that use essay mills are excluded from any liability by virtue of this legislation." No need to take my word for any of this, either, because you can just check the policy guidance, yourself. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/619d1516e90e0704439f41c7/Skills_and_Post-16_Education_Bill_November_2021_policy_notes.pdf

formerstudent   - | 39   Observer Aug 15, 2024 | #16 target those providing essay mills commercially The legal language tends to be very broad for a reason. I wonder if by "essay mills" they also mean authors for hire / freelancers?

noted   6 | 1365 ☆☆☆☆☆   Aug 15, 2024 | #17 I wonder if by "essay mills" they also mean authors for hire / freelancers? Yes, they do. As long as one is involved in the academic writing business, the law covers you. It does not selectively apply. Rather, it applies to all of those involved in academic essay writing and research. A consultancy, if it is a legitimate one, is a different case. The opinions are that of the author's alone based on an individual capacity. Opinions are provided "as is" and are not error-free.

FreelanceWriter   6 | 2657   ✏ ☆☆☆☆☆   Freelance Writer Aug 16, 2024 | #18 I wonder if by "essay mills" they also mean authors for hire / freelancers? Obviously, it does, because what the Act actually says is " It is an offence for a person to provide ..." You're confusing the language in the Act, itself, and the language in the UK Government's guidance document, to which I posted a link in Post # 15 above, which refers only to " essay mills ." My point was that the only criminal liability under the Act applies to providers of essays and not to students or anybody else who purchases academic essays. Highly experienced, versatile, honest writer with a US Law degree (JD) located in NYC. My website is nycfreelancewriter "dot com"