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Staff 2019/20 - REF FTE

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Staff 2019/20

Fields required from institutions in All fields

REF FTE


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Typefield
Short nameREFFTE
Description

This field identifies the contracted FTE on the REF census date (31 July 2020) for the REF eligible population.

Applicable toEngland Northern Ireland Scotland Wales
Coverage

Compulsory for all staff in HEPs intending to submit to REF2021, who have an active contract on 2020-07-31 which meets the definition of Category A eligibility: (Contract.TERMS = 1 or 2) and ((Contract.ACEMPFUN = 2 and Contract.RESAST is not 1) or (Contract.ACEMPFUN = 3)).

Notes

The FTE for staff whose salary is calculated on an hourly or daily basis should be recorded according to the guidance at paragraph 120 g) of the REF Guidance on submissions (REF2019/01).

The FTE for staff on unpaid leave of absence, or on secondment should be calculated according the guidance at paragraphs 120 c) and 120 d) of the REF Guidance on submissions (REF2019/01).

Staff with multiple contracts

Where a staff member holds multiple contracts providing that the sum of these REFFTE's is greater than 20, the staff member is eligible for REF.

Where a staff's total REFFTE is less than 20 the staff member will not be considered eligible for REF. REFFTE should still be completed for these staff.

Examples

Full-time staff

An active contract that on the REF census date is full-time would be shown as 100 in this field, irrespective of the contract start date. The following examples would be then returned as 100 in the REFFTE field:

  • Member of staff that has a contract to work full-time for the whole reporting period (Contract.CONFTE = 100).
  • Member of staff that has a contract to work full-time for six months of the reporting year (Contract.CONFTE = 50).
  • Member of staff that joined the HEP on 1 May 2020 with a contract to work full-time (Contract.CONFTE = 25).
  • Member of staff with a contract to work full-time for the whole reporting year but was on sabbatical in the first half of the year (Contract.CONFTE = 50).

Part-time staff

An active contract that on the REF census date is part-time would be shown as the contracted FTE in this field, irrespective of the contract start date, as in the following examples:

  • Member of staff that has a 50% part-time contract for the full reporting year (Contract.CONFTE = 50) has a Contract.REFFTE = 50.
  • Member of staff that joined the HEP on 1 May 2020 and has a contract to work 20% part-time (Contract.CONFTE = 5) has a Contract.REFFTE = 20.
  • Member of staff that left HEP on 1 July 2020 and had a contract to work 50% part-time for the last reporting year (Contract.CONFTE = 46) should have missing Contract.REFFTE.

Staff seconded to a post at another HEP intending to participate in REF 2021

In this case, HEPs should agree how to split the FTE of the post between each other but the total may not exceed the contracted FTE with the main HEP.

  • Member of staff A at University X is seconded on 31 January 2020 to University Y for one year on a full-time contract. University Y is participating in REF 2021. University X hires a cover, staff B, on a full-time fixed term contract. University X and University Y agree to return 50% of A's contract each.
    University X returns staff A with Contract.CONFTE = 50 and Contract.REFFTE = 50 and staff B with Contract.CONFTE = 50 and Contract.REFFTE = 50. University Y returns staff B with Contract.CONFTE = 50 and Contract.REFFTE = 50.
  • Member of staff, A, at University X is seconded on 31 January 2019 to University Y for two years on a full-time contract. University Y is participating in REF 2021. University X hires a cover, B, on a full-time fixed term contract. University X and University Y agree to return 50% of A's contract each.
    University X returns staff A with Contract.MOEMP = 6, Contract.CONFTE = 0 and Contract.REFFTE = 50 and staff B with Contract.CONFTE = 100 and Contract.REFFTE = 50. University Y returns staff A with Contract.CONFTE = 100 and Contract.REFFTE = 50.

Staff seconded to a post outside the HE sector or at another HEP not intending to participate in REF 2021 or on sabbatical leave

If the staff is contracted to return up to two years from the start of the period of secondment/unpaid leave and the HEP has recruited another staff to cover the secondment/unpaid leave then REFFTE can only reflect the contracted FTE of the staff that the HEP intends to submit to REF 2021. Contract.REFFTE = 0 for either the staff on secondment/unpaid leave or for the cover.

  • Member of staff A at University X is seconded on 31 January 2020 to University Y for one year on a full-time contract at the end of which he will return to the main employer. University Y is not participating in REF 2021. University X hires a cover, staff member B, on a full-time fixed term contract but wants to submit the work of staff member A to REF 2021.
    University A returns A with Contract.CONFTE = 50 and Contract.REFFTE = 100 and B with Contract.CONFTE = 50 and Contract.REFFTE = 0. University B is not required to return Contract.REFFTE.
  • Member of staff A at University X is seconded on 30 April 2020 to University Y for one year on a full-time contract at the end of which he will return to the main employer. University Y is not participating in REF 2021. University X hires a cover, staff member B, on a full-time fixed term contract and wants to submit her work to REF 2021.
    University X returns A with Contract.CONFTE = 75 and Contract.REFFTE = 0 and B with Contract.CONFTE = 25 and Contract.REFFTE = 100. University Y is not required to return Contract.REFFTE.

If the staff is not contracted to return up to two years from the start of the period of secondment/unpaid leave then REFFTE = 0.

  • Member of staff A at University X was seconded on 30 April 2019 to University Y for 30 months contract. University Y is not participating in REF 2021. University X hired a cover, staff member B, on a full-time fixed term contract.
    University X returns A with Contract.MOEMP = 6, Contract.CONFTE = 0 and Contract.REFFTE = 0 and B with Contract.CONFTE = 100 and Contract.REFFTE = 100. University Y is not required to return Contract.REFFTE.
Quality rules
Quality rules relating to this entity are displayed here.
Reason required This is required to distinguish between eligible and ineligible staff for the REF and to determine the proportion of the eligible staff included as Category A submitted staff in the submission. The HESA Staff Record is the only existing data source from which REF-eligible populations can be determined. This data item represents the minimum adaptation required to utilise the Staff record data for the REF for these requirements.
Part of
Field length3
Minimum occurrences0
Maximum occurrences1
Schema components
Element: REFFTE
Data type: REFFTEType
OwnerUKRI
Version1.2
Date modified2020-04-29
Change management notesGuidance has been updated to provide clarity about staff with multiple contracts.

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