BUFDG Digest 22 September

GENERAL / ECONOMY

The FT is expecting ‘Fiscal discipline’ to return in next month’s Budget. The threat of higher inflation and interest rates, as well as the unpopularity of further tax rises, mean that the government is feeling the pressure to set new constraints. The pressure on departmental budgets will not escape the HE sector, where new IFS research shows there is no low-hanging fruit in student finance reform. Following the recent cabinet reshuffle, Nadhim Zahawi is now Secretary of State for Education, and so pitching for the sector. The team at Wonkhe take an educated guess what his priorities might be.

If USS-watching isn’t part of your daily routine, there’s a round-up of the most recent developments on the USS website. Today’s announcements include the inevitable news that UCU will be balloting its members shortly on strike action – a HE-specific prospect to add to the energy crisis, empty shelves, a Covid surge, and the rest of the ‘Winter of Discontent’ narrative.

A recent joint report between HEPI and the UUK International unit (UUKi) on the Costs and Benefits of International HE Students to the UK Economy finds a net economic benefit to the UK of almost £26billion. The conclusions to draw should be self-evident, but the report’s authors are calling for “more to be done to promote the UK as a welcoming, diverse and accessible study destination.” There are  soft-power benefits too, which may be a little less obvious.

The OECD has published the 2021 edition of its Education at a Glance report, covering the state of education around the world.

PAYROLL AND EMPLOYMENT TAXES

The Government updated their sponsorship roadmap improvements to the UK’s point based immigration system.  The new policy paper provided updates, progress and next steps for attracting workers and students to the UK who require sponsors.  Within this update, the section on compliance caught Julia’s eye: “Our new salary checks with HMRC will enable us to ensure that employees are being paid the amount their employers committed to pay them.  We will target compliance visits to those sponsors who present a higher risk of have no track record of compliance.” Are HMRC and other Government departments finally working together?

Earlier in September the Government announced an increase in NIC from April 2022 of 1.25% to fund NHS and social care in the UK. The policy paper proposing the new levy was issued on 9 September. Here's a summary of what we know so far, with a full article here.

TAX / BREXIT

HMRC have issued a number of guides on operating and using a freeport. Businesses can set up within a freeport to store or process goods, subject to certain conditions. Andrea has been tracking all the updates and useful resources, so you can find the latest in this article.

HMRC have confirmed that the annual adjustment for the 2020/21 Partial Exemption year can be carried out on the April 2022 VAT return when it relies on TRAC 2020-21, which is not due until 31 March 2022. Please see the background and email exchange with HMRC in this article, which confirms the extension.

Those of you who joined the Time to Talk session with David Miller on 9 September will recall that he explained that there are changes coming in with effect from 1 October in relation to Great Britain and the import and export of animals and animal products to and from the EU.  On 14 September the government announced a delay to the introduction of these additional requirements. More information can be found here, and we’ll publish further updates as they become available.

The dates to make an entry summary declaration for goods imported into Great Britain from the EU have been updated. Bringing commercial goods into Great Britain in your baggage has been updated with the revised date of 1 July 2022 from which you will need to submit a safety and security declaration to HMRC. In addition, Find out when to make an exit summary declaration has been corrected, as safety and security export requirements have applied to all movements out of Great Britain since 1 January 2021. Export Declarations will usually be submitted by your Customs Agent, but if you would like to know more, then HMRC have updated two guidance notes that provide an overview to the process: Making a full export declaration; and Making an export supplementary declaration.

HMRC have published a range of step-by-step guidance notes regarding transit.  Transit enables businesses to move goods through a number of countries (including the EU) without paying import taxes or submitting an import declaration at each border that is crossed.  Import taxes are only payable in the country of destination.  Using common or union transit to move goods into, through and out of the UK provides an overview for the facility for both GB and NI. There’s more info here.

Finally, there’s a big news announcement from HMRC confirming the closure of the Customs Handling of Imports & Exports Freight (CHIEF) on 31 March 2023. The Customs Declaration Service (CDS), currently used for NI and RoW declarations will take over from CHIEF. 

CLIMATE CHANGE / ENVIRONMENT

According to the latest ONS figures, a reduction in personal travel last year due to the pandemic reduced greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 15 million tonnes of CO2, or 3% of the UK total. To debunk a popular myth, the ONS pointed out that the reduction in travel emissions more than offset the increased use of energy from the extra home-workers, to make a net-positive impact overall.

Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS) is a student-led education charity. It’s recently announced a set of ‘minimum climate expectations for asset managers’ that it hopes will be endorsed by the HE sector. Here’s a link to the SOS-UK website, which showcases the wider work of the organisation, and here’s the Invest for Change Universities guide it produced last year.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation have released an interesting study exploring how the circular economy can play a fundamental role in halting and reversing biodiversity loss. Here’s a longer explanatory article, and you can download the report in full here.

In other news, you can compost cats, apparently.

PROCUREMENT

In light of the current difficulties that HEIs are experiencing in tendering for External Auditing services, NWUPC (the contract lead for the sector’s Financial Services Framework Agreement) has created a guidance document to support members. The document provides the background and further insight into the current state of the audit market, along with tendering tips following engagement with current suppliers and finance representatives. For more information and to download the document, click here.

You may have read last month about LUPC’s ceremonial gowns supply chain mapping exercise? Following on from this initiative, and the review of modern slavery statements of the ‘top 20’ suppliers in April this year, LUPC have undertaken an exercise to follow up with suppliers and ensure they are acting upon recommendations relating to their modern slavery statements. You can read more about how suppliers to the sector are being help to account on their modern slavery statements in the full report here.

The Green Paper for Transforming Public Procurement sets out to promote value and transparency at the expense of red-tape. As key principles of public procurement, value for money, the public good, integrity, efficiency, fair treatment of suppliers, non-discrimination and transparency are to be enshrined in law. Localis are holding a webinar on Thursday 16 September at 11:00 to explore the implications for procurement and commissioning reform, and how the benefits of any changes might be measured. Click for more information and to book (it’s free of charge).

To coincide with the new CreditSafe contract arrangement, NEUPC are running a launch event on 21 September and a CreditSafe training session on 6 October.  The events are open to UKUPC members from NEUPC, NWUPC, SUPC and LUPC. Registration for the launch event is available here, and for the training session here.

OTHER EVENTS

Eversheds Sutherland are holding a training session for anyone working in an institution with responsibility for international partnerships or collaborations. The session takes place on 2 November and will cover an introduction to academic collaborations and contracts with international agents. Topics such as due diligence, common clauses, local advice and what to do when things go wrong will also be explored. Bookings are free of charge and can be made here.

The OfS has published a recording of its training webinar on OfS funding and the HESES data return, for those new to it or who need to refresh their knowledge. The session covers: how OfS funding works, including regulatory and strategic funding objectives; how student data is collected and used to inform funding allocations; and what changes have been made to HESES21 compared to prior years, among other things.

Following on from last years planning for the future in uncertain times Time to Talk session, and the how to plan and manage through financial uncertainty conference workshop, Axiom is holding a webinar on Thursday 13 October at 10AM to explore a changing landscape – rethinking university financial planning post-pandemic. The webinar is for finance professionals who want to gain a better understanding on how to enable more accurate, agile financial decision making and planning for your organisation. It includes a live Q&A, for the chance discuss your most pressing challenges. For registration and more information, click here.

JOB OF THE FORTNIGHT

The University of Birmingham is looking for someone with a blend of finance, strategy, IT, and leadership skills to head up its Core Systems Optimisation Team. The successful candidate will lead the next phase of enhancement and improvement of the Finance, HR, Research Support, and Recruiting systems, implemented in 2019. The deadline for applications is 30^th September. There are more vacancies listed on the BUFDG Jobs page.