diff --git a/admin/tool/task/lang/en/tool_task.php b/admin/tool/task/lang/en/tool_task.php
index 493fa1dea90..6b4410e27b8 100644
--- a/admin/tool/task/lang/en/tool_task.php
+++ b/admin/tool/task/lang/en/tool_task.php
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ $string['pluginname'] = 'Scheduled task configuration';
 $string['resettasktodefaults'] = 'Reset task schedule to defaults';
 $string['resettasktodefaults_help'] = 'This will discard any local changes and revert the schedule for this task back to its original settings.';
 $string['scheduledtasks'] = 'Scheduled tasks';
+$string['scheduledtaskchangesdisabled'] = 'Modifications to the list of scheduled tasks have been prevented in Moodle configuration';
 $string['taskscheduleday'] = 'Day';
 $string['taskscheduleday_help'] = 'Day of month field for task schedule. The field uses the same format as unix cron. Some examples are:<br/><ul><li><strong>*</strong> Every day</li><li><strong>*/2</strong> Every 2nd day</li><li><strong>1</strong> The first of every month</li><li><strong>1,15</strong> The first and fifteenth of every month</li></ul>';
 $string['taskscheduledayofweek'] = 'Day of week';
diff --git a/admin/tool/task/renderer.php b/admin/tool/task/renderer.php
index f32c9e0025e..360ec9e8622 100644
--- a/admin/tool/task/renderer.php
+++ b/admin/tool/task/renderer.php
@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ class tool_task_renderer extends plugin_renderer_base {
      * @return string HTML to output.
      */
     public function scheduled_tasks_table($tasks) {
+        global $CFG;
+
         $table = new html_table();
         $table->head  = array(get_string('name'),
                               get_string('component', 'tool_task'),
@@ -70,8 +72,12 @@ class tool_task_renderer extends plugin_renderer_base {
             } else {
                 $nextrun = $asap;
             }
-            $configureurl = new moodle_url('/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php', array('action'=>'edit', 'task' => get_class($task)));
-            $editlink = $this->action_icon($configureurl, new pix_icon('t/edit', get_string('edittaskschedule', 'tool_task', $task->get_name())));
+            if (empty($CFG->preventscheduledtaskchanges)) {
+                $configureurl = new moodle_url('/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php', array('action'=>'edit', 'task' => get_class($task)));
+                $editlink = $this->action_icon($configureurl, new pix_icon('t/edit', get_string('edittaskschedule', 'tool_task', $task->get_name())));
+            } else {
+                $editlink = $this->render(new pix_icon('t/locked', get_string('scheduledtaskchangesdisabled', 'tool_task')));
+            }
 
             $namecell = new html_table_cell($task->get_name() . "\n" . html_writer::tag('span', '\\'.get_class($task), array('class' => 'task-class')));
             $namecell->header = true;
diff --git a/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php b/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php
index 2b38300e9ea..768d4bc0065 100644
--- a/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php
+++ b/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ if ($task) {
     $mform = new tool_task_edit_scheduled_task_form(null, $task);
 }
 
-if ($mform && $mform->is_cancelled()) {
+if ($mform && ($mform->is_cancelled() || !empty($CFG->preventscheduledtaskchanges))) {
     redirect(new moodle_url('/admin/tool/task/scheduledtasks.php'));
-} else if ($action == 'edit') {
+} else if ($action == 'edit' && empty($CFG->preventscheduledtaskchanges)) {
 
     if ($data = $mform->get_data()) {
 
diff --git a/config-dist.php b/config-dist.php
index 47ffb73416f..c182b8741c8 100644
--- a/config-dist.php
+++ b/config-dist.php
@@ -452,6 +452,11 @@ $CFG->admin = 'admin';
 //
 //      $CFG->disableonclickaddoninstall = true;
 //
+// Use the following flag to disable modifications to scheduled tasks
+// whilst still showing the state of tasks.
+//
+//      $CFG->preventscheduledtaskchanges = true;
+//
 // As of version 2.4 Moodle serves icons as SVG images if the users browser appears
 // to support SVG.
 // For those wanting to control the serving of SVG images the following setting can