This article critically analyses national and institutional forms of policy and different conceptions of widening participation in higher education in England by contrasting representations of 'it' as a 'problem' to be managed, compared with complex and recurring dilemmas in practice. Building on Bacchi's (2012a) strategy, the article asks, 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR), and how the 'problem' of widening participation was constructed in specific contexts, by examining tensions between constructions of policy in texts and representations of widening participation in semi-structured interviews with national and institutional policy actors. Policy actors did not share a single voice, and various proposals embodied different representations of the 'problem'. These do not reduce practice to distinct or static categories limited by available policy options. Instead, contemporary representations, interpretations and translations of policy and practice make visible both limitations and possibilities for widening participation in higher education in the future.