Bespoke data service - staff data

Staff data

The current HESA staff record was introduced for the 2003/04 academic year. It combines and replaces the three staff data streams that were collected previously. 

The new HESA Staff Record covers all academic and non-academic staff who have a contract of employment with a higher education institution (HEI) in the UK.

The information that follows relates specifically to the new HESA Staff Record. Data from the former Individualised Staff Record is still available for the academic years 1994/95 to 2002/03. 

Commonly requested fields

Structure of the staff record

A key feature of the new HESA Staff Record is the format of collection. For the first time data can be analysed in terms of both people and employment contracts. The record consists of two tables. The person table contains one record for each person employed by an institution during the reporting period and contains attributes of the individual such as birth date, gender and ethnicity. Each person's employment with an institution will be governed by one or more legally-binding contracts and each contract that exists is recorded on the contract table. If a person has a single contract with the institution there will be one record on the person table and one record on the contract table. If a person has three contracts with an institution there will be one record on the person table and three records on the contract table.

Staff employed under consultancy contracts, or on the basis of payment of fees for services, without a contract of employment, are not included in the record.

The implementation of the HESA Staff Record is the result of a review of the staff data collections and consultation with the sector. It is hoped the new record will benefit HEIs by reducing the number of data collections from three to one, providing a more comprehensive set of data and enabling enhanced analysis. It also reflects changes in race relations and equal opportunities legislation.

Full staff population definitions

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Academic employment function

The academic employment function field indicates the role/categorisation of an academic contract. The following detail is available:

• Teaching only, Research only, Teaching & research, Not teaching and/or research.

Activity

Activity describes the occupation type associated with a contract. The following categories are available:

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Age

We can provide a full age breakdown or grouped ages, for example:

• 20 and under, 21-25, 26-30, 31-35, 36-40, 41-45, 46-50, 51-55, 56-60, 61-65, 66 and over.

Cost centre

Staff are allocated to cost centres on the basis of aggregating staff pay for financial purposes. Data can be broken down into separate cost centres, e.g. Biosciences, Mathematics. These can be aggregated into cost centre groups, which reflect similar academic and resource requirements, if less detail is required.
Full list of cost centres and groupings

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Disability

Disability is recorded on the basis of the staff member’s own self-assessment. The following categories are available:

• Not known to be disabled, Declared disabled.

• From 2008/09 we are able to provide the following breakdown; No known disability, Specific learning disability, General learning disability, Cognitive impairment, Long-standing illness or health condition, Mental health condition, Physical impairment or mobility issues, Deaf or serious hearing impairment, Blind or serious visual impairment, Multiple disability, Other type of disability.

Ethnicity

The Ethnicity field identifies the ethnic origin of the member of staff. The following breakdowns are available (based on the 2001 census categories):

• White, Non-white.
• White, Black, Asian, Other.
• White, Black or Black British - Caribbean, Black or Black British - African, other Black background, Asian or Asian British - Indian, Asian or Asian British - Pakistani, Asian or Asian British - Bangladeshi, Chinese or other ethnic background - Chinese, other Asian background, Other (including mixed ethnicity).

Staff full-time equivalence

Full-time equivalent (FTE) is that recorded in the contract and measures the equivalence to full-time over the course of the reporting period 1 August to 31 July.

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Gender

• Female, male.

Grade - not available from 2008/09 onwards

Due to the varied nature of the HE sector, it is not longer possible to apply a standard grade framework across UK HEIs. Therefore, from 2008/09, grade data is no longer available although we are still able to identify staff on professorial contracts.

Staff grade applies only to academic staff. The following breakdowns are available:

• Professors, Senior lecturers & researchers, Lecturers, Researchers, Other grades
• Lecturer (PCEF scale)
• Senior lecturer (PCEF scale)
• Principal lecturer (PCEF scale)
• Head of department (PCEF scale)
• Researcher A (PCEF scale)
• Researcher B (PCEF scale)
• Other PCEF
• Lecturer A (UAP scale)
• Lecturer B (UAP scale)
• Senior lecturer (UAP scale)
• Professor (UAP minimum)
• Research grade IB (UAP scale)
• Research grade IA (UAP scale)
• Research grade II (UAP scale)
• Research grade III (UAP scale)
• Research grade IV (UAP scale)
• Clinical lecturer
• Clinical senior lecturer
• Clinical professor
• Other UAP
• Lecturer (CSCFC scale)
• Senior lecturer (CSCFC scale)
• Professor/Head of department (CSCFC scale)
• Researcher (CSCFC scale)
• Other CSCFC
• Locally determined scale - Professor
• Locally determined scale - Senior/Principal lecturer
• Locally determined scale - Lecturer
• Locally determined scale - Researcher
• Other

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Highest qualification held

This field indicates the highest qualification held by the member of staff. The following categories are available:

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Location of institution

• By country of institution within the UK, i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland.
• By region of institution: North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, East, London, South East, South West, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland.
• By institution (view full list of institutions)

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Mode of employment

• Full-time, Part-time.
• Full-time, Full-time term-time only, Part-time, Part-time term-time only, Atypical.

Nationality

The nationality field defines the country of legal nationality of a member of staff.

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Source of basic salary

This is the main source of basic salary for the contract detailed in the record. It is used to indicate contracts for which salaries are paid wholly or in part from funds other than general funds. the following detail is available:

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Subject of highest qualification held

This field is used to designate the subject or subjects appropriate to that staff member’s highest academic qualification. However, this is not necessarily the academic subject in which that staff member may currently be teaching or researching.

Subject of highest qualification held uses the JACS subject classifcation. Subject data can be supplied at three levels:

• Principal subject level provides 161 subject categories.
• These can be aggregated into 19 broad subject areas.
• A more detailed 4 digit JACS subject level can also be supplied.

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Terms of employment

The Terms of employment field describes the type of contract held. The following breakdown is available:

• Open-ended/Permanent, Fixed-term contract, Atypical.