BUFDG Digest 12 March 2025

BUFDG

We’re currently part way through the final day of the brilliant 2025 BUFDG Finance Festival! If you attended, we hope you enjoyed it and found it useful. If you didn’t attend, you can catch up on all the recordings here.

In times of uncertainty, as they are now, planning is difficult to say the least. Many of the sessions at the Finance Festival covered the issue but here are a few for anyone particularly interested in forecasting, planning, and efficiency. Bevan Brittan clarified the existential consequences of having a student visa licence revoked and emphasised the importance of documenting and following good processes, while Sempre Analytics looked at how to plan and implement the best ideas for income diversification with colleagues from the University of London. Both sessions are worth watching (well, all sessions are worth watching!) but Tuesday’s plenary about how better reporting helps better planning, by colleagues from Loughborough, is a real highlight. Recordings from today’s sessions will be available tomorrow (here), and on the topic of planning in difficult times, the session from BUFDG’s Student Income Collection Management Group on balancing pastoral care and financial sustainability, is one to look out for.

Research Professional reviewed BUFDG’s submission for the Comprehensive Spending Review, also including more detailed commentary in their 8am Playbook. As is the way of these things, some of our messages were slightly mischaracterised or lost in translation, but overall, they summarised our submission as “a sensible, considered set of recommendations that could genuinely help to alleviate the financial pressures currently faced by universities”. You can read the actual submission here.

SECTOR

The DfE has updated the ‘Next Steps’ section on its LLE webpages "to give providers more information on upcoming policy announcements" - it sets out what to expect during 2025 and 2026.

The DfE, the OfS and Bridget Phillipson jointly announced their preferred candidate for Chair of the OfS, and Professor Edward Peck CBE, VC of Nottingham Trent University, was then endorsed by the Education Select Committee after a hearing on 4 March. During the hearing Professor Peck gave his opinion that if "an institution genuinely has a non-viable position and is not prepared to take … action, I am not sure the Government should step in with … a 'bailout’", and that as universities and HEPs have autonomy we all need to "take that autonomy seriously in both good times and more challenging times". He also mentioned that he would like the OfS to "engage much more with the governing bodies of institutions". You can read the full transcript here. The appointment will commence in late summer.

Professor Sir Ian Chapman, current Chief Executive of the UK Atomic Energy Authority and a current member of UKRI’s board, has been appointed as the next CEO of UKRI, to lead "a refreshed mission that puts economic growth at the heart of public investment in R&D, helping to fulfil the potential of science and technology in improving lives". This appointment is also likely to commence in the summer.

And Professor Malcolm Press CBE, VC of Manchester Metropolitan University, has been elected as the next President of Universities UK, to take over from Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE in August.

The OfS has written to accountable officers to explain the request for an interim financial return this year. They are asking for a focused return to "understand any material movements in some core financial information – for example total income, total expenditure, current asset investments and cash and cash equivalents – relating to … forecast performance and position for the year ending in 2025". The interim financial return is due by 10 April.

Wonkhe has an update on UCU’s recently launched ‘Stop the Cuts’ campaign, including 'a day of action' on May Day, as well as the initial demands from the unions in the 2025-26 pay negotiations. UCEA has published the ‘heads of claim’ from the unions in full, which includes a request for pay increases of RPI plus 3.5%, or £2,500 (whichever is greater). THE describes the request, which currently amounts to an effective 7% increase, as ‘ambitious’, in an article that also discusses disputes and troubles within the unions.

The Governor View from AdvanceHE takes a look at university ‘change programmes’ from the perspective of governors, as governing bodies have an important role in "asking the right questions, highlighting risks, gaining assurances and posing the right level of challenge to ensure that the impact of change programmes is widely positive".

We know how important survival and financial sustainability are for many universities and HEPs at present, but this HEPI blog asks institutions not to forget about ‘cathedral thinking’ - long-term activity which is ultimately for the good of future generations - as well as day-to-day survival. For institutions that have been, or plan to be, around for hundreds of years, long term strategy is key and it’s important to "ensure that the long term is not forgotten in all of the current noise and turbulence". And let’s not forget, despite the fact that many large and splendid buildings are constructed in just a couple of years these days, spending hundreds of years constructing a cathedral for future generations is not a thing of the past, the Basilica Sagrada Familia has been 140 years in the making (so far…), and serves current Barcelonians as well as future generations.

The OfS is looking for six new non-executive directors to sit on its board. They will "play a key role in shaping the OfS strategic direction and supporting the reform programme" and be "responsible for a wide range of activities including reviewing risks and benefits and monitoring outcomes against plans, oversight of OfS’s corporate strategy, and the stewardship of public funds". The OfS is looking for people with a number of skills, including expertise in financial resilience and sustainability. The closing date for applications is 11am on Friday (14 March).

Jisc contributed to this Wonkhe blog on digital transformation in a cost-constrained world, which argues that "a whole-institution approach is needed" and digital decisions shouldn’t just "sit more with 'digital people' like CIOs and IT teams". The topic of how to best rationalise and improve your digital ‘estate’ was also covered by PwC at BUFDG’s Finance Festival in their session on Financial improvement through technology and commercialisation.

An article in the PIE questions whether international student recruitment is really worth it for UK universities. It looks at the different approaches taken by UK universities towards international student recruitment and suggests that "[i]f we don’t rethink our approach, the financial gains from international student recruitment may soon disappear altogether". It’s an interesting read with the focus being on not just chasing numbers but considering the real cost of that strategy and how to make it more about profitability than income.

SCONUL, the professional association for academic and research libraries, recently published a report on library finances showing 73% of libraries are making cuts, which range from less than 1% to 30% of their total budgets. Around half had already made cuts in at least one of the preceding two years and 21% have already been asked to make cuts in the next academic year. In more library finance news, BUFDG contributed to a joint letter to Clarivate from SCONUL and a number of other sector bodies, calling on Clarivate to reverse its decision to discontinue the option for perpetual purchase of academic resources, a cornerstone of libraries' mission to provide long-term, reliable access to knowledge. SCONUL recently received a response from Clarivate making several commitments.

SCOTLAND

The Scottish Parliament has a current Call for Views on the proposed Tertiary Education and Training Bill. The call for views closes on 11 April.

The SFC has published the requirement to submit a Financial Forecast Update for H E Institutions for 2024/25. The SFC webpage includes details of two important changes – to the income spreadsheet and the balance sheet information. The Financial Forecast Update must be submitted by 28 March.

The Education, Children and Young People Committee met on 5 March to discuss widening access, but also spent a considerable part of the meeting asking the SFC about the £15m of funding for low-interest loans to support sustainability for Scottish institutions, that was originally announced as support for the University of Dundee, (which THE reports has now announced the highest number of job cuts of any such announcements so far this year), but it actually appears to be a fund that the SFC will allocate as it sees fit.

WALES

The Welsh Minister for Further and Higher Education has published a written statement with an update on the Welsh higher education reform programme. Medr will be leading an overview of subject demand and provision, so consideration can be given to policy interventions to safeguard, and possibly fund, certain provision. An increase to the part-time fee loan is also being considered. The Minister intends to work with the UK Government on their plans for H E reform and will seek clarity on fees policy for the UK parliamentary term. Medr’s duties in relation to the development of their funding policy statement will commence in April.

Universities Wales has issued a report into a future approach to international tertiary education and research, which concludes that these are the key to unlocking Wales’ potential. Recommendations include the development of an International Tertiary Education and Research Strategy for Wales, appointment of an International Education Champion, and closer engagement with UK Government to deliver an immigration policy that aligns with Wales’ needs.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Ulster University and the Department for the Economy have acquired land to allow the expansion of the university’s Derry~Londonderry campus to accommodate 10,000 students. The expansion is a "priority action committed to by the Northern Ireland Executive in the New Decade New Approach agreement".

FINANCIAL REPORTING

Members can now download the report of the 2025 Audit Survey from the BUFDG website (login required). Thank you very much to all those who responded. We had 104 responses in total, which is 56% of member H E institutions. This is at the lower end of historical response rates, which may be due to the challenges of the audit process this year and/or late sign-off of accounts. However, it should still ensure a representative picture of audit provision across the sector. If there are any figures that appear incorrect, please contact Matt.

A reminder that the new SORP exposure draft is available and the consultation on the draft is open, with comments requested by 30 April. You can also view the recording of the Finance Festival session on Preparing for SORP 2026 provided by our project partners, KPMG, which included useful takeaways and some great questions from delegates.

RESEARCH FINANCE

THE reports that UK research councils awarded (marginally) more funding to regions outside London and the south-east for the first time during 2023-24 - "this follows a pledge by the UK government in 2022 to 'level up' UK research funding by growing public research spending outside the Greater south-east by 40 per cent by 2030".

The next Research Finance Forum meeting date has been set for 11 June (online) and is open for booking. And you can watch the recording of our Finance Festival session which took a deep dive into Navigating UKRI Funding Assurance, provided by one of the forum’s co-chairs, Helen Hammond, Head of Research Finance at the University of Nottingham.

For ARMA members among our membership - a task and finish group has been convened by ARMA to look at the financial sustainability of research. They would like as many responses as possible to this survey from all institutions.

The recent Concordat for the Environmental Sustainability of Research and Innovation Practice has implications for all organisations undertaking research. ARMA is hosting a webinar on 7 April to explore the concordat and hear how member organisations are adapting their practices.

TAX AND PAYROLL

Our international tax update session was a particular highlight of the Finance Festival, and the recording will be available here tomorrow.

After the Finance Festival we turn our attention to the BUFDG Tax Conference, being held at the University of Birmingham’s Edgbaston campus on 11-12 June. The conference is aimed at tax, payroll, and global mobility managers and staff, and others responsible for tax in their HEP, and  includes plenary sessions and a choice of several breakout sessions each day. The conference sessions will cover VAT, Corporation Tax, Employment Tax, Global Mobility, and International Tax, as well as some Cross-Tax sessions. The full programme is being finalised, but you can find more details and some confirmed sessions, and book your place, here.

The House of Lords has been continuing the debate on potential exemptions to the NI changes, with the result that the amendment to exempt universities and higher education providers has been dropped, and the amendment to exempt charities was passed by the Lords but only for charities with a turnover of less than £1 million, and even this is likely to be blocked when the Bill returns to the Commons.

HMRC continues its focus on tackling non-compliance in umbrella companies with new legislation from April 2026, making agencies using umbrellas (or end clients if no agencies are involved) ultimately responsible for PAYE/NIC. Whilst umbrella companies can still be used to outsource payroll obligations, employment agencies or end users will bear the legal responsibility to ensure the right amount of tax/NIC has been paid. If your university directly engages with an umbrella company, from April 2026, you will be responsible for ensuring the correct PAYE/NIC is paid. If you continue to use the umbrella for your payroll needs, ensure you have the appropriate indemnities in place.

There are numerous tax Time to Talk sessions, Global Mobility roundtable meetings, employment status roundtables, and regional tax group meetings coming up – you can find them all in the BUFDG Events Calendar.

PROCUREMENT

The Cabinet Office has released details of upcoming Community of Practice (CoP) events, following on from the Procurement Act going live last month. You can find all the details in the CoP event calendar that you can download here (events can be booked via the link on the pdf if you click on 'Book now via Eventbrite'). Sessions will be held between March and June, and include topics such as exclusions, standard contracts, and below threshold and aggregation key changes.

BUFDG RESOURCES, COURSES AND UPDATES

Recordings from Day 1 and 2 of the Finance Festival are already available here, and Day 3 recordings will be available by tomorrow.

Our free Deputy Finance Director meetings continue over the next couple of weeks with the London and South East meeting on 19 March, and the Welsh meeting on 26 March (both online). Our Effective Data Visualisation for Finance course runs on 25 and 26 March (two parts). It covers the principles of information design, data in context, designing for the human brain, and navigation and narrative. The two-part course costs £175+VAT and you can book here.

MISCELLANEOUS

Our job of the fortnight is Subsidiaries Senior Manager (Financial and Regulatory) at the University of Cambridge. As the University has a portfolio of subsidiary companies and is associated with several charitable trusts, it is seeking an experienced manager to ensure compliance with financial, governance and regulatory requirements within these organisations. The role requires someone with a professional qualification in finance, legal, or governance. There are plenty more H E finance vacancies to be found on our Jobs page.