Table 13 - Severance payments 2016/17 to 2022/23

Type of data

Administrative data

Data source

HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) is part of Jisc. We are the experts in UK higher education data and analysis. We have been collecting higher education information since the 1994/95 academic year.

Finance data is taken from the HESA Finance record, which universities, colleges and other higher education providers return to HESA on an annual basis. The Finance record collects a range of information about the primary financial statements from HE providers' published accounts.

From 2018/19, data for English HE providers (excluding further education colleges and sixth form colleges under the primary regulation of the Education and Skills Funding Agency) was collected by the Office for Students.

We provide data and analysis on finances of HE providers to a wide variety of customers, including:

• Governments
• Universities (via the Heidi Plus analytics tool)
• Academic and commercial researchers
• Students and potential students
• Trade unions and employers' associations
• Policy makers.

Our data is used to regulate the sector, inform policy making, advance understanding of social and economic trends, support decision making, and enhance public understanding of - and confidence in - the higher education sector.

Related releases

Our HE Provider Data: Finance data pages collect together all of the tables we publish on finances in higher education.

Further information

• Definitions - Finances
• Data intelligence - Finances
• It may be helpful to refer to the information disclosed in a provider’s financial statements to help understand or contextualise the figures presented.

This table displays data with respect to severance payments made to the head of the provider and higher earning staff.

View Table 13 - Severance payments

Compensation paid to the head of the provider for loss of office at the provider’s group and includes benefits paid in cash or in kind. If benefits are paid in kind further description of that benefit is available. This section also separately shows the amount made as pension contributions as part of the compensation.

The table also displays aggregate payment made to staff earning in excess of £100,000, any compensation paid for loss of office and separates data for staff at the provider and those within the group and the aggregate number of staff who were paid this amount. This data excludes compensation paid to the head of the provider.

English providers only complete this table if they have been registered with the OfS for at least a year after the financial year end that the data is related to.

For providers in England, data for the whole provider includes the head of provider. For providers in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland compensation payments are only shown for staff earning over £100,000 p.a. but exclude the head of provider.

Data compensation paid for loss of office is specified in the accounts direction issued by funding bodies.

• OfS – Accounts direction
• HEFCW – Accounts direction
• SFC – Accounts direction
• DfE(NI) – Accounts direction (PDF)

This table collects data retrospectively for the latest financial year. It also collects restated data to previously submitted information for the one year prior as comparison to the current year.