BUFDG Digest 5 July

BUFDG

In case you haven’t already heard, BUFDG is in the middle of gathering feedback as part of a comprehensive review of the services we provide and how we provide them. While BUFDG has operated for three decades and grown and developed organically in response to members’ needs during that time, the past couple of years have been a time when aspects of how our member HEIs operate and aspects of how BUFDG operates have changed for very different reasons. So it seems an excellent time to assess whether what we offer and how we work is still what is wanted and needed by members.

We’ve had discussions with members at almost 30 meetings over the spring and summer, but we’d love to hear as much feedback as possible from as many members as we can. So a survey will be winging its way to members’ inboxes via email (the survey takes account of whether or not you have already provided some feedback via the Mentimeter feedback sessions at member meetings, so please have a look at the survey even if you have already fed back via Mentimeter). The survey closes on 31 July, and we’ll be analysing all the feedback we’ve received over the summer and autumn and reporting to the Exec in late autumn. Results of the Exec’s decisions and any proposed changes will be announced in early 2024.

In case you missed it in the last Digest, in June we published the 22/23 BUFDG Annual Report. We try to make sure our Annual Reports aren’t glossy promotionals – rather genuine insight into how BUFDG thinks and works, what it does, and what’s next. Our members are key to BUFDG, and we want to make sure you have all the information you need to engage effectively and efficiently with the network. Hopefully you’ll find that the report shows that BUFDG not only delivers value in the short-term but is also a sustainable and worthwhile partner for the whole sector in the long-term.

In June we also launched our Structure of Finance Teams survey report. The survey sought to gain a broader understanding of the finance leadership, functions, and departmental structures within BUFDG member universities, to offer insights into how other H E Ps work. The full report is available to download here. Thank you to the 80 Higher Education Providers (HEPs) from BUFDG’s membership responded to the survey to provide the information.

We also published our latest Chair’s Quarterly newsletter. There are a range of interesting articles covering new Tax guides, energy supplies, research finance, and more. If you have any questions, feedback, or ideas for the next newsletter, drop Matt an email.

A project exploring the costs of Net Zero has found that the estimated cost for Higher and Further Education to transition to Net Zero will be a total of £43.8 bn. This is made up of a total of £37.1 bn to decarbonise the Higher Education sector and £6.7 bn to decarbonise the Further Education Sector. The project has been undertaken by BUFDG, EAUC, AUDE and delivery partners Energise, has produced a calculator for institutions to project their spend and emissions at a strategic level and provide an estimate of what it will cost to reach Net Zero. Ahead of the launch of the calculator, and ‘The Cost of Net Zero’ report which sets the tool in context, two webinars have been planned to introduce the calculator and new report.

The first webinar, which will be hosted by AUDE and is open to all BUFDG members, will take place on Thursday 13 July 3-4pm and feature a demonstration of the calculator by Energise with a focus on estates and sustainability elements. A follow up webinar with a focus on the financial planning elements of the tool will take place in September, hosted by BUFDG.  

SECTOR / FUNDING

At the end of June UUK produced a report on the impact of universities ‘in numbers’. Some of the findings include that graduates are around 3 times more likely to reach the top 20% of earnings (an annual income of at least £33,500 in 2018 prices) at age 30 than nongraduates. And that, between 2021-2026, universities will train 191,000 nurses, 84,000 medical specialists, and 188,000 teachers.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published the latest forecasts of student borrower numbers, student loan expenditure, and student loan repayments in England. You can view the complete data here.

The NHS recently published the NHS Longterm Workforce Plan. Universities providing education and training for health professionals will look at their business plans and financial forecasts which have just been, or will soon go, to governors and wonder whether to tear them up and start again, or to wait for more announcements. On many levels the Plan is good news for universities but it’s going to cause some head-scratching in universities (throughout the UK, not just in England) that already have Medical Schools, and in those who aspire to open one. Here’s an explainer from the Guardian.

HESA has published 21/22 Estates Management Data, including information on grounds and buildings, water and energy usage, waste management, transport, and other environmental measurements. Wonkhe’s David Kernohan has an excellent article on what it is, why it’s so important, and what the data tells us. And in related news, here’s Labour’s plan on how it will make Britain a clean energy superpower should it win the next election.

Finally, John Cater, V-C at Edge Hill has this blog post for HEPI asking if targeted ‘forgivable fees’ might be the answer for some HE funding questions, as well as for national public workforce challenges.

RESEARCH FINANCE

BUFDG’s first ever Research Finance Forum took place on Wednesday 21 June 2023 online and had nearly 130 people tuning in to take part. The session included: Compliance considerations for international fellowships; UK Reproducibility Network-Jisc report on open research collaboration across diverse professions; New Introduction to Tax on Research e-learning, and a Roundtable discussion with other members.

For those unable to join on the day/keen to review any of the session/share with colleagues, a recording of the information sections delivered by BUFDG can be found here along with a copy of the full presentation. Read this article for a summary of the highlights and takeaways.

FINANCIAL REPORTING

The updated USS modeller for 2023 is now available from the BUFDG website. Following feedback from the 2022 audits, this updated model provides additional explanatory notes within the ‘inputs’ tab. Please also see the statement from USS in this article about a change to the modeller regarding the headcount increase assumption, and note that there has been no change made to the method used to discount the provision. We expect discount rate assumptions to follow in August. If you have any questions about the modeller, please contact Peter Fielding.

In related news, the OfS has confirmed that there will not be an updated Accounts Direction for England for the July 2023 Year End. Read this discussion board post for the statement in full, which includes an additional reference to universities with students being taught by delivery partners.

COUNTER-FRAUD / TRADE SANCTIONS

The FT and other news organisations have recently reported that the Department of Trade and Industry (DT&I) is investigating several UK universities for violating export controls or trade sanctions by sharing drone technology with Iranian researchers and research establishments. This inquiry was apparently triggered not by questions raised by the UK government of the universities, but in response to The Jewish Chronicle's report of 8 June 2023 on its review of hundreds of research papers by British academics. VWV have published this article that explains a bit more about the case, and their view on how it might impact the sector.

 The article is in addition to work VWV undertook for BUFDG last Autumn in raising the profile of export controls and trade sanctions. Click the following links to revisit: the session recording; Session recording; Session slides (final slide has Thomas’ and Tom’s contact details); Original sanctions note (lots of useful gov links at the end, and the CPNI guidance); Discussion board post for further chat with colleagues; Earlier session on NS&I Act, and; the Oslo case mentioned in the chat.

At the tax conference, HMRC were asked whether the Student Mule Awareness campaign was genuine. HMRC confirmed this is a genuine campaign and provided further information that you can find here to distribute to your student population.

TAXES

The majority of the higher education sector have an international focus which could include overseas campuses, collaborations, student recruitment - along with some un-intended international issues caused by remote workers. Corporate income taxes can be due on non-resident entities (i.e. UK based universities) carrying on particular activities in that overseas location. It can often be difficult to assess whether the activities universities carry out could result in taxes becoming due.

Whilst it is not possible to cover all scenarios, BUFDG engaged KPMG to prepare this report on global Permanent Establishment risks for the HE sector. The report is intended to be used as a triage to help universities identify high risk activities, using HE specific examples.We hope this can be used to reduce the time spent on reviewing activities and identify where your resources are best served. Any feedback, please let us know.

Thanks to Harriet Latham for drafting the attached response to the Charities Tax Compliance Consultation and to Joanne Rowan and Joanne Rodger for their comments.

BUFDG has drafted a response to the HMRC Tax Consultation: The Tax Administration Framework, Information and Data. This asks questions about sharing detailed data with HMRC and pre population of tax returns and is relevant to all taxes. We have also drafted a response to the HMRC Tax Consultation: The Tax Administration Framework Review, Creating innovative change through new legislative pilots. This asks questions about using a "sandboxing" approach to checking technological changes and is relevant to all taxes.Julia and Andrea would welcome comments from members on the consultations by Monday 17th July.

HMRC has also issued a consultation entitled UK law reform in transfer pricing, permanent establishment and Diverted Profits Tax. The response deadline is 14 August and unfortunately, due to the upcoming holiday season, we are not going to have time to respond to this one. We therefore encourage you to submit your own responses should you have any comments.

HMRC has published its Employer Bulletin: June 2023 edition, which is a bi-monthly magazine for employers, including: reporting of expenses and benefits; NMW for interns and those on work experience, and; making Child Benefit claims quicker and easier for new parents, among others.

With thanks to Hannah Annear from Falmouth University and Graham Gustard from Cambridge University, we are pleased to announce the BUFDG PAYE Settlement Agreement (PSA) Guide is ready to read. We hope that the guidance proves useful to you as you tackle the PSA reporting over the next month but we also hope that you will feedback on areas we haven’t included or need more information on. Our aim is to keep updating the guidance with practical and technical feedback from our members to make it as useful and relevant as possible. So please do feed back with your suggestions and questions.

Following up on the PSA guide, we have also set up a series of Time to Talk sessions in the week commencing 10 July 2023 to talk through various aspects of the PSA. You can find out more about each, and book yourself on, using this link.

Following another Bank of England interest rate announcement (up from 4.5% to 5%), HMRC has uplifted interest on late payments from 7% to 7.5%. HMRC's interest rates for late and early payments guidance has not yet been updated with the new rate, but it will apply from 11 July 2023.

The Treasury Committee published a report into tax simplification and if you don’t have time to read the entire thing, we recommend you read the report summary in our article here. However, under the principle of ‘long story, short’, the UK tax system is overcomplicated, creates compliance burdens and confusion, and abolishing the OTS was a mistake.

A few weeks ago Andrea prepared a high level summary of the VAT issues that need to be considered when providing catering in-house or via the contracted-out route. This was for a catering conference led by CUBO (College & University Business Officers). As always, comments are welcome and thanks to the members who reviewed this ahead of issue.

PROCUREMENT

HEPA represents the sector on the transforming public procurement programme working group. Members can find HEPA’s notes from the working group meeting on the discussion board. If you have any questions or comments about the programme, or procurement reform more widely in HE then please do get in touch with Ashley.

Regarding the connected consultation, The Cabinet Office have advised that the public consultation on the secondary legislation required to implement the new public procurement regime established by the Procurement Bill has now opened. It is being conducted online, and members can find all relevant information, and the mechanism to respond, via the dedicated page on Gov.uk. Part 1 of the consultation is open and will close at 11:45pm on 28th July 2023. Part 2 is expected to launch in July 2023 - further details will be provided in due course.

By popular member demand we are delighted to be running a HEPA round-table on the topic of moving to virtual P-Cards – the discussion will focus on shared insights, thoughts and experiences on the topic. We welcome those considering moving to virtual P-Cards, as well as those in particular who have adopted a virtual card system and happy to share their perspectives.  The session will take place at 14:00 on 10 July via Teams – please register your attendance here!

OTHER

We are delighted that Lloyds Bank will be presenting two webinars for BUFDG members in September, focused on organisational purpose. The aim of these sessions is to share Lloyds’ experience and hear from the BUFDG community on your own journeys to become more purpose led organisations. The first webinar will cover “Leading with Purpose - Helping Britain Prosper”- where a number of senior colleagues from Lloyds Banking Group will join us to share the journey Lloyds has undertaken so far to create a purpose-led organisation, supported by five key values that drive their decision making, and how culture is central to driving this change. 

The second session on 22 September will highlight Lloyds’ focus on “Creating an Inclusive Society". This will be a conversation around how Inclusivity is being built into the DNA at Lloyds, firstly focusing on how Lloyds is promoting social mobility and equal opportunity within the bank and how they are now using their influence and presence across the UK to support societal change. 

Many institutions are starting to think about and implement forms of Open Banking. If you are or, alternatively, you have no idea what it is, you might find the recordings of the Time to Talk sessions on Open Banking that we ran helpful. The first is an intro on Open Banking, and the second has more on implementation.

Dan King and David Reddaway from the University of Surrey are running, in conjunction with Sempre, a Time to Talk session on Connected and Predictive Institutional Planning. It takes place on 20^th July on Teams, from 2-3pm. As with all our TtT sessions, it’s free to attend and will be recorded. To find out more and to register, visit the event page.

Our Job of the Fortnight is for a Finance Operations Manager at the Royal College of Music. The College is looking for a “qualified Accountant to manage a small accounts team at an exciting time following the implementation of a new finance system”. The successful candidate will “maximise the effective use of systems through innovative thinking”, and have “the ability to meet tight deadlines across a wide range of activities” among other attributes. The deadline for applications is 16^th July.

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