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Staff record 2020/21 - FTE vs FPE

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Version 1.0 Produced 2020-??-??

What is FTE?

Full Time Equivalent (FTE) is a unit that indicates the workload of an employee in a way that make workloads comparable to the standard full-time, full year contract.

What is FPE?

Full Person Equivalent (FPE) looks at how much of the (whole) person's working time is engaged in a particular activity. FPE calculations are based on the activity taking place on 1 December of the reporting year.

Individuals can hold more than one contract with an higher education provider (HEP) and each contract may involve more than one different activity. In published analyses staff counts are divided amongst their activities in proportion to the declared FTE for each activity; this results in counts of full person equivalents.

How do FPE and FTE differ?

FPE relates to the proportion of a person's time allocated to different activities on 1 December of the reporting period. Whereas FTE relates to the proportion of working hours in the reporting period that a person has actually been contracted to work.

Worked examples

1. Maurice holds one contract with The University of Poppleton. He works 5 days a week for the whole of the academic year as a Financial Accountant.

example one

2. George holds one contract with The University of Poppleton. He is working 2.5 days a week for the whole of the academic year as a Laboratory Assistant.

example two

3. Marie holds two contracts with The University of Poppleton. She works 1 day a week as a Careers Adviser and 1.5 days a week as a Library Assistant.

example three

4. Elizabeth holds one contract as a Lecturer at The University of Poppleton with multiple activities. This contract is full time and involves 75% teaching Classics, 15% as a Library Assistant and 10% as a Residential Warden.

example four


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