16 June 2021 
Matt Sisson, Projects and Membership Manager
PENSIONS
There have been further developments on the USS valuation and reforms this week, following the announcement by USS Employers (organised by UUK) that employers representing 95% of USS membership have backed the UUK proposals in their response to the latest consultation. The proposals aim to head off further contribution increases by employers and employees, by including additional covenant support and introducing a salary threshold, amongst other measures. The full details can be found in the USS Employers announcement. The latest letters between USS and UUK, and USS and the Pensions Regulator, can be found on the USS website. This USS crisis is also covered in an article by Exeter CFO Andrew Connolly in the latest BUFDG Chair’s Quarterly.
TAX / EMPLOYMENT TAXES
This week is the BUFDG Tax Conference, which for this year is entirely online. As a result there is less from Julia and Andrea than usual in this week’s Digest. If you’re at the conference, and you’d like to access the recordings, slides, and other resources, you can do so via the Conference website.
There have been a number of recent ‘post-Brexit’ updates from HMRC. Andrea has summarised them all in this article, but they include the temporary import of goods to NI or the EU, and changes to import duty on re-importing goods, among other things.
HMRC’s June Employer Bulletin is a busy one, and Julia has summarised some of the articles that caught her eye here. They include treatment of refunds to employers from medical service providers, and taxable charges for returning home working office equipment, among others.
Following the consultation back in 2019, the government have announced their plans for establishing a new single enforcement body for employment rights. This new enforcement body will amalgamate the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority, the Employment Agency Standards and HMRC’s National Minimum Wage Enforcement team. The full government response sets out reforms, enforcement, powers and interaction with other areas of the labour market.
Hybrid or blended working, the new work normal, working from anywhere, flexible working; whatever the term, working from home either fully or in part, has become mainstream. The latest THE survey suggested 71% of the 5,000 respondents welcomed a blended approach and universities across the UK are planning to offer administrators ‘hybrid’ working in the next academic year. But what do you need to be aware of for tax purposes? It’s a topic being covered at the Tax Conference this week and, off the back of this, BUFDG will be creating a guidance/signposting document for institutions. While you’re waiting, we would welcome your feedback on what would be useful; what examples could we include to make the guidance more practical for your institution? What should it cover – travel & subsistence, home expenses, anything else? KPMG have recently compiled some areas to review in the wake of the pandemic that give a good structure to the different issues. However, we would like your views so answers on a postcard to Julia.
For those universities with, for example, spin out responsibilities, it’s almost time to file your Employment Related Securities returns and KPMG have prioritised your to do list. Additionally, KPMG’s article on shareholder taxes summarises the position for individuals considering their options.
HMRC has issued a general reminder on their guidance that June furlough claims must be submit by 14 July and that the scheme will change from 1 July as the government’s support reduces from 80% to 70%. In addition, slightly after the horse has bolted but better late than never, you can now download a template if you're claiming for 16 to 99 employees. And finally, a new section in HMRC’s guidance explains how to correct overclaims in your next claim. All relevant information can be found in HMRC’s CJRS guidance, including a new example for flexibly furloughed employees in June.
FINANCIAL REPORTING
BUFDG are running training on 9 July for institutions who have to prepare US GAAP accounts from time to time. The course is an introductory module aimed at members of finance who are responsible for producing the annual report along with creating the US GAAP “conversion”. It will ensure that attendees understand the major accounting differences and areas of risk that need to be focused on (which will be covered in more detail on module 2). The course costs £195 + VAT, and more information and the booking link can be found on the course web page.
FRG member Jenny Febry (LSE) has shared the institutions’ experiences and adjustments required with Vivek, who will be leading the sessions. However, the session will be most useful if other institutions who prepare US GAAP accounts could also share their experiences as there will be items and issues specific to each HEI. It would also be valuable if some institutions who prepared the supplemental schedule from their UK GAAP accounts would be willing to share their issues so that the second course on 12 November can be made as comprehensive as possible. If you are willing to share, please respond to this discussion board post.
PROCUREMENT
As requested by members, we are very pleased to announce that we will be running a free Time to Talk with Jisc on 25 June at 14:30. During the session delegates will hear from Nicola Arnold, Chief Financial Officer, Sue Weston, Director of Procurement and Howard Moody, Deputy Director – Software Licensing, about a range of essential topics, including what Jisc does, available frameworks, and an overview of the Microsoft offer for universities through CHEST, for which there are significant commercial benefits to you as a HE institution. If you are not familiar with the agreement, then this is a ‘must attend’ session.
As previously reported, construction input cost inflation continues to rise. May’s PMI showed construction input cost inflation at a 24 year high, driven by a double whammy of supply shortages and a surge in demand. The survey also highlighted a number of trends for procurement colleagues to bear in mind, including increased lead times for materials, skills shortages, and increases in rates charged by sub-contractors.
Supply Chain School are running a free of charge workshop focused on due diligence in combatting labour exploitation. This course is designed to illustrate what due diligence looks like and how you can embed essential elements of this into your organisational processes. The workshop takes place on Thursday 24 June from 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM, and you can book your place here.
Following on from the announcement of further details on the Procurement Bill, the Cabinet Office have released the National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS). You can download the Statement on gov.uk here. The NPPS states that contracting authorities should consider the following national priority outcomes alongside any additional local priorities in their procurement activities. The related Procurement Policy Note also states that contracting authorities should publish procurement pipelines and benchmark their procurement capability: from April 2022 for an annual spend of £200m or more, and from April 2023 for an annual spend of £100m or more.
The NPPS is the first step in the procurement reform process and the Commercial Policy team are holding two webinars providing contracting authorities the opportunity to learn more about the content of the NPPS, what it means in practice and raise any questions. The webinars take place via zoom, are free to attend, and registration is available for the 18 June 14:00 – 14:45, and 24 June 11:00 – 11:45.
HEPA are also working with the Cabinet Office team to support the implementation of the new arrangements on behalf of the sector. A short survey is being conducted to help shape the learning and development that will aid all those who need to understand the new arrangements, gauge demand for support across different types of audience, and to also help develop a baseline of levels of awareness and understanding of the reforms. Please do take the opportunity to provide your views! To help ensure that the reforms reflect the needs of the target population, the Cabinet Office are seeking to bring in three experienced procurement practitioners who are familiar with the current rules and their limitations. The full details of the roles can be found here; the team are keen to attract potential candidates from across the sector, but be quick if you are interested – the closing date is 20 June.
Many thanks to Louise Sadler of BDO for the excellent time to talk discussing data privacy; the session covered the impact on the fall out of the Schrems II decision, and the resulting invalidation of the EU-US Privacy Shield and an update on Brexit and the implications on data protection (pending UK adequacy decision). A copy of the slides is available to download here. As noted in the session, the content of these is time limited as the situation is evolving rapidly; the slides are up to date as at 8 June. As discussed during the time to talk, a copy of the CCS GDPR toolkit is available for you to download here.
LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
There are still places remaining on the Time to Talk: Credit Control webinar on 1 July. As per the previous sessions, this is a fantastic opportunity to share ideas and issues with fellow BUFDG members. These sessions are/will not be recorded, so please do attend in person if you can.
Our next edition of the Introduction to HE for Professional Services Staff session takes place on the 28th June, and is open to members of all PHES organisations. It is a one day development event aimed at all professional services staff within their first year of working in HE, who need to grasp the complexities and political environment of HE, and the implications for operating and influencing effectively. It is a free event, but there are just a handful of places remaining, so do book soon if you can to avoid disappointment.
Calling all finance business partners (and related managers!). We are running another round of each of our two business partnering courses – for business partners at both the foundational and strategic level. Both courses are run across two different sessions, and cost £260 + VAT. The foundational event is for new and aspiring Finance Business Partners, Management Accountants who want to develop more of a partnership approach, as well as existing Business Partners who wish to refresh and track their progress. We see the strategic level course as more for those established in Finance Business Partner-type role who wish to take the next step in their development and influence.
JOB OF THE FORTNIGHT
Our Job of the Fortnight is for a Finance and Resources Manager at the University of Kent. The successful candidate will:
The deadline for applications is 27 June. As usual there are lots of other vacancies listed on the BUFDG jobs page.
