BUFDG Weekly Digest 10 May

BUFDG

BUFDG Chair Erica Conway (CFO, University of Birmingham) was among those to give evidence last week to the House of Lords Industry and Regulators select committee on the work of the Office for Students. Erica gave evidence alongside Nicola Owen, Deputy Chief Executive (Operations) at Lancaster University, and Chair of AHUA. It was a fascinating session, and readers can watch it back, as well as read the transcript, on the Parliament website.

In case you missed it last time around, we have launched a brand new 'Introduction to Tax on Research' course. This is helpful to anyone responsible for deciding whether to charge VAT on income received by a university for a research project, or needing to understand whether VAT should be included in the cost of a research project. We have also updated our 'Corporation Tax: Managing Subsidiaries' course and made an updated version of the 'Commercialisation and Intellectual Property' live again. If your HEI subscribes to BUFDG Pro you can find all these courses on our e-learning page. 

SECTOR / FUNDING

HEPI has published an in-depth report on small and specialist providers in the HE sector. It finds that such providers are essential to the health of Higher Education in the UK, but face a unique range of challenges. It makes the case for “major policy, structural and regulatory changes to increase competition, innovation and sector diversity in higher education”. The full report can be downloaded from the HEPI website.

The sector has been unnerved over the last few months by the news of an impending review of the sector by ONS, as to whether or not it sits within or outside the public sector.  ONS has now published more details in its most recent classification guide, and suggested the completion date of the review for HE will be Q4 of this year (Oct-Dec). It also expects the ‘fiscal aggregate impact’ to be ‘small’, which may or may not be reassuring!

Universities UK has published a briefing note, Supporting good practice in student accommodation: considerations for senior university leaders, drawing on insights and experiences of those in the sector. There is continuing demand for more accommodation in a number of towns and cities that are experiencing a shortage, although this is not the full picture as other areas have surplus accommodation. The UUK note looks at the impact of accommodation issues on students, assesses the current and future picture, provides some case studies and suggests some solutions, and looks at how to work better internally and also how to work with other organisations to help solve accommodation problems.

With recent changes to the way student loan repayments work (but not in Wales), the Conservative party’s vote share tumbling in last week’s local elections, and a recent Labour ‘U-turn’ on its prior policy, there is increased focus on what a Labour majority government might do with Higher Education funding. There has been lots of commentary since, including from the team at Wonkhe, where Jim Dickinson suggests we now have a graduate tax in all but name. London Economics also suggests some alternative options.

TAXES

Last week, HMRC issued a raft of consultations as part of its Tax Maintenance and Administration day.  These are aimed at supporting the Government’s ambition “to simplify and modernise the tax system, tackle non-compliance, make the tax system fairer for taxpayers and to make the customs system work better for traders.” Andrea and Julia have reviewed these announcements and set-out the consultations that we think BUFDG need to respond to as a priority. But we need your help, input and expertise! Please read this article in full, and let us know if you can join in!

BUFDG has been asked to share a message on behalf of HMRC regarding tax avoidance. Please find attached the background to this campaign and an alert for issue to contractors. There has been an increase in tax related frauds, so anything the HE sector can do to raise awareness of this issue would be welcome.

We were back travelling last week attending the BUFDG/Vialto Global Mobility roundtables for the Higher Education sector. Meetings took place in Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and London, were well attended and the free lunches were excellent! Vialto has provided a copy of the slides used during the meetings, although the discussions led the meetings rather than the slides.

The Indian OIDAR legislation has been amended with the human intervention point being deleted.  For those of you who have previously taken advice on online learning supplies made to students located in India, you may wish to revisit that advice. Read the updated guidance here.

For those of you who have attended any of David Miller's sessions, you may recall that there are number of different methods for valuing goods at import.  This value is the basis for calculating the amount of import VAT and duty that is paid. Most values are based on the payment made for the goods, but for trickier situations, HMRC has launched the Advance Valuation Ruling Service (AVS) to "give importers legal certainty that their chosen customs valuation method is correct." See Apply for an Advance Valuation Ruling for further information.

Andrea attended a call with Milan Shah from PwC India on Thursday 20 April 2023.  If you have students accessing online learning in India, the notes of our meeting with Milan Shah, from PwC India are a must read. GST changes are expected to apply from 1 April 2023, with GST chargeable at 18% on online earning income where the student is situated in India. Read the full notes here.

And remember to book your place here for the 2023 Tax Conference. The full programme and other information is now available on the conference micro-site.

PROCUREMENT

HEPA are delighted to be re-launching the Responsible Procurement Group (RPG) in conjunction with EAUC. Helen Baker, Procurement Director, University of the West of England, has volunteered to Chair the Group, and the next meeting is scheduled online for 16 May. The purpose of the RPG is to identify, share and promote best practice on Responsible Procurement throughout the sector and to stimulate the development of resources, principles and guidance to support members. We would like to welcome all interested members to attend on 16 May, where we will discuss and agree the Terms of Reference for the Group; we will be looking for all Group members to join one of the 3 sub-groups aligned to the 3 topics highlighted above. To register your place, please complete the booking form here.

Over the coming months HEPA is forming a working group to review the Benefits Methodology.  The purpose of the review will be to ensure that the Benefits Methodology remains accurate, credible and continues to meet the requirements of the sector. If you have any feedback on the Benefits Methodology then please do sign-up to join the working group so we can ensure that it meets your needs - it would be wonderful to have a cross section of colleagues involved representing a broad range of Higher Education providers. To sign-up, please complete this simple form by 26 May. 

The Transforming Public Procurement team are running a survey to help them gather valuable insight and information to inform development of the programme, guide implementation of the new reforms when they come into force, and help measure the impact of the programme over time. Thank you to all HEPA members who have already taken the time to respond - and for those who still intend to do so, you have until close of play Tuesday 9th May. Please do take the opportunity to give your views and share the survey link within your own teams. You can access the survey here.

At the last Head of Procurement meeting for the £200m to £300m turnover bracket, the attendees agreed to hold a further detailed benchmarking session. Colleagues decided to use the session to focus on PPI 4, PPI 1 and PPI 5. Members can sign up to attend the session here, which takes place via Teams on 11 May. If you are not in the £200m to £300m turnover bracket but would like to run a similar detailed session focusing on PPI’s of your choice then please do let me know.

UKUPC has published its Annual Impact Statement for 2021-22. Julie-Ann Garton, UKUPC Chair and Managing Director at NWUPC said: “Supporting our members is at the heart of UKUPC. By working in collaboration across the sector we are able to enhance the offering we provide to members in terms of knowledge, best practice, and guidance for their procurement needs.” For more information on UKUPC, please see the UKUPC website.

SUSTAINABILITY

A briefing paper titled Assessing climate risk and strengthening resilience for UK Higher Education Institutions has been created by the UK Universities Climate Network (UUCN) to support universities in assessing their climate risks and improving resilience. Authored by 19 experts from across 13 institutions, the guidance draws on the latest evidence and is intended to be a valuable resource to support decision makers, senior leaders, sustainability practitioners and risk experts within HEIs to undertake this urgent work. EAUC, in partnership with the UK University Climate Network (UUCN), AUDE and BUFDG, are hosting an online webinar covering the report and its implications on Tuesday 5 September. The event is free and open to EAUC, AUDE, BUFDG & UUCN members. Click here for more information and to book your place. 

This overview webinar is followed by a three-part training series on how to develop Climate Impact Assessments. This online series is aimed at Estates and Sustainability practitioners, and is available free to EAUC, AUDE, BUFDG & UUCN members. Click here for more information and to book your place. 

JOB OF THE FORTNIGHT

Our Job of the Fortnight is for a Senior Management Accountant at the University of Exeter. The successful candidate “will be a qualified accountant with proven experience in managing effective relationships in a business partnering role, able to demonstrate excellent communication skills, team leadership skills and be comfortable with working in a changing environment and managing change.” The deadline for applications is 30 May. As usual there are lots of other vacancies listed on the BUFDG jobs page.