The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (SC 038302).

Open University Student Budget Accounts Limited (OUSBA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Open University, Companies House number 303735 and until 31 March 2014 was licensed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) under licence number 573250 and from 1 April 2014 is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under interim permission number 573250.