24 January 2018 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
There was a TRAC helpdesk email sent out this week containing a couple of important updates. The first is about the treatment of RDEC in the calculation of EBITDA for the Margin for Sustainability and Investment (MSI).
In summary, a principle has been agreed that EBITDA for MSI calculation should be amended to adjust for RDEC income, and HEIs in receipt of RDEC income should undertake the calculation to determine its impact on both the EBITDA for MSI and the charge out rates. However, institutions have the option of only making the adjustment to the return if the impact of RDEC is material. Therefore, if the EBITDA for MSI figure and the charge out rates do not change by more than 10%, HEIs can apply materiality and not deduct the RDEC income from the EBITDA for MSI calculation.
Secondly, the Support Unit has received a number of questions regarding the impact of the MSI on charge out rates. The note on the TRAC website provides a summary of the findings to date and outlines an exercise that has been undertaken in the last week to consider the queries received.
Both updates can be found in full on the FAQ page on the website. If you have any queries regarding the above, please email the TRAC Helpdesk, or ring them on 0115 935 3400.
