BUFDG Digest 7 June

SECTOR / FUNDING

The annual summary and analysis of TRAC data (21/22) has been published by the Office for Students. David Kernohan at Wonkhe has some excellent analysis as usual, and concludes that “Our creaking funding model has not met the full economic costs of any part of university activity for a number of years – the “core” activities of teaching home undergraduates and conducting state funded research are loss-making activities that need to be subsidised by other work, most notably recruiting international students.”

In related news, there’s coverage in the Guardian of the sector’s ‘broken’ funding model, the Scottish Funding Council has published funding allocations for 23/24, and in Wales the Bangor VC says that a fee level that doesn’t rise with inflation is unsustainable. Labour has started to float ideas about what it might change in England should it win the next election, at least to start with, but Scottish Labour still seem committed to free education.

There’s some interesting coverage of international students, with OfS data on the size and shape of TNE provision, Ed Dorrell, Director of Public First, suggesting universities should be bolder in selling the benefits of international students, and Jim Dickinson proposing the government takes another look at how international student numbers are regulated.

Finally, the impact on universities of the TPS discount rate change has hit the FT.

RESEARCH FINANCE

As we continue to build the research community within the BUFDG membership, we are pleased to be holding our first ever Research Finance Forum on Wednesday 21 June, 10am – 12.30pm. This will be an opportunity for those with research finance related roles to share their thoughts and ideas with fellow research staff across UK Higher Education Providers, and hear about relevant resources and projects. We will also invite those attending to give feedback on BUFDG services as part of our wider review, and suggest how we can serve the research finance community better.  

The session will include: Compliance considerations for international fellowships; UKRN-Jisc report on collaborating across diverse professions; A new 'Introduction to Tax on Research' e-learning course; Interactive feedback session, and; Roundtable discussion with other members. Please share this event with relevant colleagues. Click here to book your place, and if there is anything you would like to be discussed at this meeting please let Joni know.  

TAXES

There is less than one week left to the BUFDG 2023 Tax Conference and you have until the end of this week to book your place. Even if you can't make some of the days, your booking gives you access to the recordings of all the sessions which you can refer back to for months/years to come. We have a whole host of sessions that you can read in more detail here. At BUFDG towers we are looking forward to the introductory session from Dr Rob Yeung who will help you “Remain resilient and productive in challenging and uncertain times”, and also the Higher Education HMRC team’s update on Wednesday morning where they will be discussing their team as well as the Employer Duties and VAT reviews. We hope to see you there!

Andrea has started to dream about all the Calls for Evidence and Consultation responses. We are slowly ticking them off, but there are a number outstanding and we would welcome your comments on Off-payroll working (IR35): calculation of PAYE liability in cases of non-compliance (responses due 22 July), Charities Tax compliance (20 July), Tax Administration Framework Review, Information and Data and The Tax Administration Framework Review: Creating innovative change through new legislative pilots (20 July). You can find out more about the areas that the Consultations are considering in this News Article. In related news, BUFDG has responded to the Call for Evidence on VAT energy saving materials and you can read our response here.

PwC has published this 'Reframing Tax' article highlighting a problem we in the tax team are aware of, that tax is often forgotten when businesses, companies, universities, etc look at transformation and technology. In their reframing tax study survey, 54% of businesses surveyed placed “moderate to little importance” on consulting the tax function on business strategy. PwC follows up with this article  setting out four ways to ensure tax teams are ‘up to speed’. Keeping with this theme, PwC has also issued this short, but interesting article on Tax Automation.

In October 2022, HMRC issued ‘promotional material’ on how employers can approach their PAYE Settlement Agreement (PSA) to lower the risk of compliance failures. We thought this was worth flagging up as most universities start thinking about their PSA calculation as it’s a quick reminder of the rules, and because HMRC has made a couple of changes, including how to enter, cancel or amend the PSA and also how to pay. Read the guidance, or 'promotional material' here

If you have been following this discussion board thread, you'll know that we recently commissioned Vialto Partners to produce a high level guidance document setting out the typical tax and social security treatment of membership to a UK registered pension (i.e. the USS) in 10 countries, including Australia, France, Italy, and Switzerland. The guidance is now finalised and you can access the document here. Please note that the purpose of this document is to provide an indication of whether there are high risk tax and/or social security implications of providing USS to members who are attending the countries above. This is not a replacement for specific advice but should give you a good understanding of what to expect and, therefore, where to allocate your time/budget to.

BUFDG will be holding a corporation tax webinar on 22 June from 2-4pm, presented by Harriet Latham from the University of Glasgow. This session will include a rapid run-through of the key points for preparing your corporation tax return. There will then be a Q&A session on any aspect of preparing your return. Attendees should ideally submit questions before the session, although there should also be time to answer additional questions raised during the session. Any questions not dealt with during the session will be answered by email after the event. There will be a charge of £50 plus VAT per delegate. A recording will be available to delegates to watch again after the event.

Finally, HMRC’s advisory fuel rates for company cars (which includes cars provided via salary sacrifice arrangements) from 1 June 2023 have been released. Petrol rates remain the same, diesel has decreased and LPG has increased, check the rates here.

And remember, you can read all the latest tax news in the TaxHE newsletter.

PROCUREMENT

As we noted last week, the Cabinet Office have now published PPN 05/23: Implementing new Free Trade Agreements. This PPN sets out changes to public procurement obligations arising out of the UK’s new Free Trade Agreements with Australia & New Zealand. You can read the PPN on gov.uk here.

Achilles experts are providing members with a detailed overview of the changes contained within the updated SQ for PPN 03/23, published by the Cabinet Office. An important revision within this PPN is that it updates the pre-qualification requirements for contracting authorities and wider public sector bodies. This means that the Common Assessment Standard (CAS) should be used for above threshold works contracts and the procurement of mixed contracts (supplies and services). Achilles are a recognised CAS Assessment Body and with membership to their BuildingConfidence community you could access a large pool of CAS accredited suppliers. You can sign up for the free webinar (multiple dates available) via this link.

Many thanks to all HEPA members who took part in the Buying Social Justice survey last year. The team are running a collaborative workshop in Birmingham on 5 June, to which HEPA members are invited. The meeting will take place at The Priory Rooms, Quaker Meeting House, Birmingham. Interested parties can click here for more information and to register.

There is still time to register as a Super User as part of the Cabinet Office Transforming Public Procurement programme! A super user is a commercial professional who has completed the online learning and advanced deep dive training. They are commercial individuals with a clear understanding of the new procurement regime and who can provide strong leadership within their departments/organisations. The next Super User meet-up will take place online on 6 July at 10:30. Should you wish to sign up, please drop Ash an email with your first and last name, email, and institution.

There have been a plethora of cases of late which could potentially impact public procurement. We recently ran a fantastic case law update session with Clyde & Co, LUPC ran a great event as part of their legal services programme and Mills & Reeve have lined up what looks like it will be an insightful webinar as part of their five in 25 series. Shailee Howard (Principal Associate), Victoria Armitage (Senior Associate) and Jenny Beresford-Jones (Senior Legal Advisor) will consider “5 Cases in 25”, analysing recent procurement law cases and drawing out five lessons learned. You can find all the info on this page.

Bookings are now open for the next set of HEPA Head of Procurement group meetings which will take place later this month. Please do book your place now via the links in this article. A reminder that you can find turnover for your institution on the HESA website by searching ‘HE provider’ and referencing the ‘Total income’ field.

Finally, UKUPC is looking to recognise outstanding achievements of members and suppliers in their procurement activities. It will be holding a Procurement Awards Ceremony during the UKUPC Conference taking place on 6-7 September 2023. Unlike other awards, entry is completely FREE. The submission process is simple and requires minimal effort. There are no financial prizes, but the admiration of your peers would more than make up for this with the subsequent marketing of the award outcomes telling a good story for you both internally and externally. The closing date for submissions is 31^st July, and all the info is here.

COUNTER-FRAUD

Members are invited to sign-up to the upcoming NatWest & Royal Bank of Scotland webinars focused on tackling fraud in Higher Education. The first session takes place on 21 June and is focused on the sector in England & Wales. The second session takes place on 22 June and covers the sector in Scotland. Topics covered will include: The role of social engineering plays in most common fraud types; Several case studies based on the latest threats which can target your business and employees; Hints and tips on how you can stay safe online and beyond.

In case you missed it, and for more counter-fraud news, please read the most recent Counter-Fraud Digest.

OTHER

There’s a PHES-wide event that will be useful to many in your teams and across your institution, which is Introduction to HE for Professional Services Staff. The course is online on 28 June, and anyone in your HEI with a .ac.uk email address can register for a BUFDG account (if they don’t have one already) and register.

A briefing paper titled Assessing climate risk and strengthening resilience for UK Higher Education Institutions was recently created by the UK Universities Climate Network (UUCN) to support universities in assessing their climate risks and improving resilience. The guidance draws on the latest evidence and aims 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. 

Universities UK has also 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.

Our Job of the Fortnight is for an interim Head of Financial Reporting, Controls & Process at the University of Greenwich. The successful candidate will manage, lead, and develop the Financial Reporting and Compliance team, promoting a strong control and governance culture with a keen focus on efficient systemised internal controls. Statutory reporting is a key component of the role along with the year-end external audit. The deadline for applications is 11^th June.

Other vacancies can be found as usual on the BUFDG jobs page.