23 April 2025 
Joni Rhodes, Projects and Development Manager
SECTOR
The Office for Students has incorporated 2024 data into their operational measures (OM). OM 1 and OM 2, which measure how many reportable events and notifications were received and the time taken to address them, saw an increase in both reportable events and notifications which can be partly explained by the growing number of providers on the OfS Register. OM 3 and OM 4 measure applications for registration and degree awarding powers, and reflect the temporary pause in accepting applications.
A final reminder that the OfS consultation on reforms to OfS registration requirements closes at midnight tonight, Wednesday 23 April 2025.
THE (£) looks at the argument for universities to reinvest revenue from spin-outs back into further innovation rather than relying on it to ‘fix their financial problems’, and how funding cuts may be hampering ‘support universities can provide for commercialisation and community engagement’.
Wonkhe reviews the claims in The Times (£) that the SLC’s technology is “close to collapse” through a slightly cynical lens coloured by the upcoming Spending Review. There’s also an article on how the DfE might consider some level of supply-side reform in relation to international students and visas.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Students is launching a Commission on Students in Higher Education to contribute to the government's Higher Education Review and contribute to the public conversation on student maintenance. In a piece in HEPI the NUS explains that to it wants to focus on the ‘real-life, current experience of students’ by bringing them ‘into the rooms where decisions are made’. The Commission plans to ‘tackle the big issues of the current funding debate: teaching standards, maintenance funding and student outcomes, drawing on the expertise of a cross-party group of Commissioners and higher education specialists, all working to provide meaningful recommendations which should influence and complement the Department for Education’s H E Review and the Comprehensive Spending Review.’
Elsewhere in the press, the Times (£) reports on the chancellor’s “softening stance” on youth mobility scheme with the EU, while the Guardian highlights a leaked report that claims that visa costs and bureaucracy arising from Brexit are negatively impacting cancer research, including making it more difficult for UK researchers to attract grant funding.
On a less serious note, if you’ve ever wondered which UK universities are closest to theme parks, then Wonkhe has you covered.
SCOTLAND
Universities Scotland has provided a briefing to MSPs regarding the Education (Scotland) Bill, setting out some concerns on the proposed amendments. The concerns are largely related to the proposals to include the 11 HEIs providing initial teaching education (ITE) within the remit of the new office of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland, creating a third regulator for these HEIs in this aspect of their provision.
A reminder that the Scottish Universities Finance Conference takes place on the 14 May at the University of Strathclyde. If you are a BUFDG member and work for a Scottish provider, you can find more details and book your free place here.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Education budgets and allocation of student places were discussed at a Stormont economy committee hearing on Tuesday 8 April, but university funding allocations for 2025-26 are yet to be confirmed by Northern Ireland’s Department for the Economy. A transcript of the discussion around university spending can be found on page 60 of the official Hansard report.
FINANCIAL REPORTING
You can now book your place on the upcoming Financial Statements webinars, which take place between 10am and midday on Friday 16 May and Wednesday 21 May 2025. These annual workshops are delivered by members of the Financial Reporting Group, including representatives from key audit firms, and will cover updates and changes, as well as sharing best practice from the annual Financial Statement reviews. The workshops are free to attend, and the same content will be covered on both days, so you only need to attend one.
While these sessions will touch on the forthcoming Statement of Recommended Practice for Further and Higher Education, these workshops will not go into detail. To support BUFDG members preparing for the FEHE SORP, which has an effective from date of 1 January 2026 and is expected to be published in August 2025, a webinar and series of regional workshops will be hosted by KPMG's Accounting Advisory Services team throughout May and June. The webinar, which takes place on 7 May at 2pm, is open to anyone with an interest in implementing the new SORP in a Further or Higher Education context. Regional workshops are open to BUFDG members only. Details, dates and booking links are all available on the website.
A final reminder that the last opportunity to feed into the development of the SORP is via the Invitation to Comment on the exposure draft, which closes at midday on 30 April 2025. An online forum for BUFDG members will take place in late June/early July to facilitate discussions around implementation, please follow this discussion board thread for updates.
INVESTMENT
The Banking Engagement Forum, established by the University of Cambridge in 2023 to harness the combined influence of Higher Education investments to mitigate climate change, is developing the first global corporate bond index to address fossil fuel expansion. New climate index aims to support investors to address fossil fuel expansion by driving investment to reduce real-economy emissions, through asset allocation and stewardship. Bloomberg Index Services Limited has been selected as the index provider, covering fossil fuel producers, utilities, insurance, and financing.
You can read more about the details and the launch timeline on the Banking Engagement Forum website, along with the most recent update on the Request for Proposals including cash deposits and money market funds.
SUSTAINABILITY
BUFDG’s list of funding and investment for decarbonisation projects has been updated, following the closure of the latest round of the Green Heat Network Fund on 12 April. An update on further rounds is expected in due course, along with the Heat Network Efficiency Scheme. The Workplace Charging Scheme has been confirmed until at least March 2026, and an announcement on the next Phase of the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) is expected in May 2025. A list of the grant recipients from Phase 3c of the PSDS is available here, along with the summary report.
Scotland's Public Sector Heat Decarbonisation Fund application portal opens on Tuesday 29 April at 2pm and will close on Tuesday 27 May at 2pm. Fund operator Salix have scheduled two webinars for interested parties on Thursday 1 May and Thursday 22 May.
TAX
We are delighted to confirm that the BUFDG 2025 Tax Conference is now CPD certified. Tickets for this two-day event, which has a packed programme and takes place in person at Edgbaston Park Hotel and Conference Centre (University of Birmingham) on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 June, are available now.
On behalf of the higher education sector, BUFDG intends to submit a response to three consultations announced as part of the Spring Budget 2025, and is seeking input on the following three surveys:
Member responses will play a vital role in ensuring that the views of the higher education sector are represented and (hopefully!) considered in the development of future legislation.
BUFDG's response to the "Open Consultation: Electronic invoicing: promoting e-invoicing across UK businesses and the public sector" was submitted on 17 April 2025.
Details on all upcoming meetings and events, and important tax updates, can be found in the latest edition of TaxHE.
PROCUREMENT
Following on from the interesting discussion on the topic of centralising the raising of Purchase Orders on the HEPA discussion board, this is a roundtable for members to share their approaches and discuss best practice. Centralising the raising of Purchase Orders will take place on Monday 12 May 2025, 3-4pm, and bookings are open now.
MISCELLANEOUS
As always there are plenty of fixtures and events coming up for our members, including Introduction to TRAC (8 May) Demystifying Finance and Budgeting in the HE Sector (3 Jun), Finance Business Partner Foundations (4, 5 Jun), Tax Conference (11, 12 Jun) and Strategic Finance Business Partnering (18, 19 Jun). Visit our events page for full listings.
And finally, two jobs of the fortnight for you this edition. The first is Head of Research Finance and Contracts at the University of Sussex, a post-award leadership role managing all financial and legal aspects of awarded grants and contracts, compliance, forecasting and strategic delivery. The closing date is 12 May. Second is at the University of Bath, who are seeking a Finance Manager for Operations & Transformation, a pivotal role driving modernisation within financial operations and implementation of Agresso into the cloud. The closing date is 11 May. You can find many more vacancies listed on the BUFDG jobs page.
