BUFDG Digest 18 June

BUFDG

We are sad to announce that after almost 25 years our longest serving staff member, Gill, has decided to leave BUFDG at the end of the Summer. Gill will be taking a break from work for a while before exploring what she might like to do next. We will all miss Gill greatly, but we are recruiting for two part-time roles to undertake her work and a few other things – an Events Manager and a BUFDG Support Officer. If you, or anyone else you know, is interested in joining the BUFDG team then do have a look.

The Understanding University Finance guide has been updated to reflect recent sector developments. Key changes include updates on Medr, the Living Wage, pension costs, tuition fees, and changes in the research funding landscape. The guide remains a valuable resource for anyone looking to build or refresh their understanding of university finances.  

A reminder that on our Understanding Finance pages you can find a number of other really useful guides, including ones covering Accounting for Pensions, Universities and Tax, Finance System Implementations, and the Structure of Finance Teams.

Useful events coming up include the Time to Talk on Income Collection Management (20 Jun), Introduction to HE for Professional Services Staff (23 June and free to attend - suitable for those who have been in H E for one year or less at any level), Time to Talk about Financial Planning and Analysis (26 Jun) and NMW compliance and awareness with HMRC and UHR (2 July).

SPENDING REVIEW

The big political event of the last fortnight was the government’s spending review which, while making big announcements on energy and investment, had little direct news relating to the HE sector. As usual, the IFS (of which BUFDG is a supporting member) has produced authoritative analysis and a useful video summary.

Universities will be most interested in the announcement of a significant targeted funding boost to research and innovation of £22bn a year for the next four years. The National Centre for Universities and Business are running an expert-led webinar tomorrow (19 June) exploring the particular initiatives, how the sector might benefit, and what the risks might be. Other additional money includes £250m for green aerospace projects.

There's also related news that the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, run by Salix, is to close permanently. Phase 3c and Phase 4 of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme and work supporting these projects will continue until these projects are complete and operational. In total at scheme close more than £3.5 billion will have been issued through nearly 1,400 Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme grants.

There are a number of responses from the sector that may be of interest including from Universities UK and the Russell Group.

SECTOR

OfS published this year’s TRAC data on 10 June. In summary, cost recovery is down, but the sector’s overall deficit is down due to cuts in spending across all areas. Wonkhe’s David Kernohan takes a deep-dive. The OfS has also outlined its capital funding allocations for 25/26, and published its AFR return guidance for English providers. On the latter there are notable changes for this year, and Wonkhe’s David Kernohan considers the increased regulatory burden on smaller suppliers. There’s also a little look behind the curtain on how the next TEF exercise is developing.

Parliament’s Education Committee has announced a call for evidence as part of its enquiry on the impact of government policy on international students and therefore university funding, and particularly how it might affect the risk of insolvency. The deadline for responses is 31 July. The enquiry announcement follows the publication of a significant report by the Commons Library on the state of Finances and Funding of HE in England.

A new paper published by HEPI explores how the sector could respond to current financial and political challenges it faces. According to authors Diana Beech and Andre Spicer from City St George’s, UK universities are currently ‘boxed in’, and considers possible university solutions to ‘unboxing’ HE, including “removing and stopping outdated processes and activities” and “removing and stopping outdated processes and activities”. It also has a range of suggestions for policymakers too.

The transformational approach it advocates might, in practice, look something like that being taken by Aston University, as outlined by V-C Aleks Subic in an article in Wonkhe. In it, he outlines the university’s approach to engaging more closely with industry partners, and becoming more ‘commercially astute and globally minded’.

The team at Wonkhe are making their own contribution to the debate, and have published their first paper in the ‘Post-18 Project’ - “an initiative to shape the policy environment around universities and colleges and provide practical solutions for anyone with a stake in the success of post-18 education in the UK.” The project brings “new thinking, ideas and analysis from experts around education to drive reform of post-18 education in the UK” and was “set up to offer a new Labour government in Westminster policy and ideas and solutions, and develop the most exciting original thinking around the sector.” The first paper, ‘Tooling Up’, looks at building a new economic mission for higher education.

KPMG are hosting two HE technical updates online on the 8 July (morning) and 17 July (afternoon). The events cover the policy landscape as well as tax and accounting updates and other issues and challenges facing finance teams in the higher education sector. The sessions are interactive and include a Q&A.

HEPI / Interpath are running a webinar on 25 June (1-2pm) looking at what efficiency and effective cost-reduction looks like for HE. Questions covered include ‘what does a successful cost reduction programme look like?’, ‘how can academic excellence and institutional integrity be maintained alongside reducing costs?’, and ‘what can HE learn from other sectors?’.

SCOTLAND

The Scottish Government has published a recording of the public section of the Education, Children and Young People Committee session on 4 June. It notably explored the financial sustainability of Scotland’s universities, the thorny issue of executive pay, and featured evidence from three Vice-Chancellors.

In addition, the Government has produced guidance on how to apply for the Proof of Concept Fund, aimed at supporting early-to-mid stage commercialisation activities for researchers based at Scottish universities. The fund is open until 4 July.

WALES

Medr has announced James Owen as its first permanent CEO. James has been COO at the regulator since last year, and replaces interim CEO Simon Pirotte.

Medr has also just published its first operational plan, covering activities expected to take place over the 25/26 academic year. Most notable are continuing development of the regulatory system, and continuing consultations on funding policy.

One of the elements of the operational plan is ‘developing impactful and supportive research and innovation environments’ and Dylan Jones-Evans, University of South Wales Assistant PV-C has written in Business Live to suggest there is plenty of work to be done in this area to avoid Wales losing ground to the rest of the UK. Among other things, he calls for a national strategy for research commercialisation, and more to be by City and Growth deals at a regional level.

TAXES

TaxHE has taken a break for a fortnight while Julia and Andrea take a well-deserved recovery break from this year’s Tax Conference. We’re not completely shorn of news though, as Vialto has updated its internationalisation checklist for HE, which is a really useful tool for universities that have academics or other staff performing some or all of their duties internationally.

In addition, we’ve published the minutes of the most recent National Tax Group meeting, and would like to remind you of a recent update to another excellent tool – the Making Education Digital spreadsheet. The spreadsheet provides a signpost to overseas GST/VAT issues when providing online learning to students located overseas. The recent update includes students in Kazakhstan and brings the total number of countries covered to a whopping 58.

FINANCIAL REPORTING

Stakeholders responded to the FEHE SORP 2026 Invitation to Comment in the spring, and these have now been reviewed in detail by the Technical Working Group. Recommendations were made to the Financial Reporting Group on 10 June, and these have been refined and are now on their way to the FEHE SORP Board. A consultation summary report including all responses in full, and outlining the key issues raised and proposed changes to the SORP documents where appropriate, is now available. Following SORP Board sign off in late June, and the Financial Reporting Council review and approval process during July, it is expected that the new SORP will be published in August.

Those preparing for the new SORP can now book to attend the first Implementation Forum taking place 10am-12pm online on Tuesday 8 July. These will run bi-monthly into early 2026 to support members wishing to discuss the changes and implications involved in the adoption of the 2026 SORP.

The IFRS Foundation has released four new e-learning modules accessible through the IFRS Sustainability Knowledge Hub to serve as an introductory resource for organisations looking to get to grips with IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. These are free for all those with an IFRS.org account, and at the end of each module, users have the option to sit a short, multiple-choice assessment to receive a certificate of completion.  

PROCUREMENT

The Cabinet Office has announced that it will soon be consulting on social value in major infrastructure projects. The consultation will be launch later in June and run to September 2025. HEPA will share details of how members can feed into this piece as soon as the consultation goes live.

The Jisc network solutions framework, launched on 1 June 2025, can help members save time and money procuring network equipment and associated services. The framework was developed to replace the old network equipment framework, previously launched in 2019. Read Ash’s full article for more information on the suggested advantages of the Jisc framework compared to other procurement solutions. There’s also a webinar on Tuesday 17 June with Jisc where members can find out more about how the framework operates.

Jisc has also launched a new online guide to help UK Higher Education Providers through the complex process of procuring research management systems. The ‘Procuring a research management system guide’ offers step-by-step advice on selecting research systems, highlighting common pitfalls and sharing strategies to streamline procurement based on sector-wide experience.

In other news, NEUPC are calling for feedback and volunteers as they prepare to renew the HE Sustainable Furniture Framework, while places are filling up fast for the Transforming Public Procurement Deep Dive sessions which end on 4 July.   

RESEARCH FINANCE / FUNDING

HESA has published the awaited results of its data collection on university spin-outs, which it points out is the ‘first register of its kind to be collected anywhere in the world’. On launch, Jisc’s Chief Executive, Heidi Fraser-Kraus said that that the register will help ”…national and local governments across the UK to understand the role that universities play as generators of innovation in the economy.” Full analysis of the data has been produced by the University Commercialisation and Innovation Policy Evidence Unit at the University of Cambridge, who were partners in the project. Wonkhe resident David Kernohan also couldn’t resist a data dabble.

University College London (UCL), alongside nine other universities, has secured £5.9 million in funding to expand the Universities Policy Engagement Network (UPEN), strengthening academic involvement in policymaking. A key focus will be on place-based policymaking, ensuring universities play a pivotal role in shaping regional governance.

On 5 June the Public Accounts Committee heard evidence relating to how the Government can support pioneering research and innovation. UKRI was described as absolutely vital to research and innovation in the UK, driving economic and social benefits, strategic leadership and policy development, infrastructure, funding and support while tackling UK and global issues. However, it was acknowledged that there is work to be done on commercialisation and attracting inward investment, and that it is important to balance the degree to which UKRI addresses Government missions with discovery-led, bottom-up research.

On 10 June the Science, Innovation and Technology Committee heard evidence on how the UK can deliver a better innovation ecosystem. The discussion emphasised the need for more transparent and regionally balanced research funding, amid concerns about the concentration of resources in a small number of institutions. This may increase pressure on universities to clearly demonstrate the value and impact of public investment through stronger financial governance and accountability. When questioned whether the international students levy remains a live proposal, Patrick Vallance (Minister of State for Science, Research and Innovation) was quick to say this is not yet policy and is open to discussion and consultation.

COUNTER FRAUD

After several years of sterling service, Andy McGoff, Finance and Operations Director at Edinburgh Napier University, has stepped down as chair of the Counter Fraud Working Group. We’re very grateful to Andy for his work with the group, and we are delighted to announce that Justin Smith, Director of Finance and Procurement at SOAS will be taking over as chair of the group.

The Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 (ECCTA) became law in the UK in October 2023. The act created a new offence of 'failure to prevent fraud'. This Failure to Prevent Fraud (FTPF) offence will come into effect on 1 September 2025. We have created a brief summary for HEPs, and recently held a Time to Talk session with CIFAS, which you may be glad we recorded.

INVESTMENT

Following the publication of contact details for those institutions that met the objectives of the Request for Proposals for cash deposit facilities at the start of 2025, Cambridge University's Banking Engagement Forum (BeF) is in discussions with another two full-service banks in the hope that they will meet the objectives before the process closes. The BeF are keen to hear from BUFDG members about any funds moved, mandate limit changes, or new mandates made since the announcement. A full list of signatories to the Request for Proposals is available on their website. 

The working group has also selected a fund manager who will be able to meet the climate and product objectives in relation to Money Market Funds, and are in the process of setting up product build meetings. Anyone wishing to be involved as a seed investor and help shape this process can contact them directly.  The BeF also recently announced the first global bond index to address fossil fuel expansion.  

MISCELLANEOUS

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has published an article explaining major reforms resulting from the government's Pensions Investment Review. The review impacts the Defined Contribution (DC) workplace pensions market and the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) in England and Wales. Julia has posted these on two discussions – one for the general reforms and one for LGPS in particular. Please feel free to respond if you have any thoughts or concerns or questions for other colleagues.

If you’re interested in university governance then Wonkhe have been giving the topic some thinking space recently. Editor Debbie McVitty looks at the tensions between the governance requirements of universities’ academic and business activities, Jim Dickinson makes the case for reform of the governance at faculty level, while AHUA’s Ben Vullaimy makes the case for evolution rather than revolution.

The University of Portsmouth is looking for a Tax Project Accountant and Compliance Manager. The successful candidate will be “responsible for all non-UK-VAT tax affairs of the University and the University Group, managing the University’s tax exposure, with a focus on project work, overseas taxes, and tax compliance across a broad range of taxes”. They will also “be required to develop, promote and implement a clear tax strategy, and to provide training and extend awareness of tax matters” throughout the university. The deadline for applications is 25 June.

As well as this, we have our own recruitment for a BUFDG Events Manager and a BUFDG Support Officer. We’re looking for a couple of enthusiastic new part-time colleagues to support the team in putting on amazing events for members, administering our packed schedule of webinars and online meetings, assisting with e-learning, and providing general admin assistance to the wider team. You will be based from home, with some UK travel, and you would be joining a fantastic, friendly team and supporting our wonderful members. Have a look here for more details of both roles.

As usual, there are lots of other vacancies listed on the BUFDG jobs page.