Table 8 - Expenditure - breakdown by HE provider, activity, HESA cost centre and academic year 2015/16 to 2021/22

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 Finances 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 total expenditure of providers at a granular level.

The expenditure streams are analysed by academic departments, academic services and central and administration departments, research grants and contracts and premises, academic departments are further analysed by activities based on HESA cost centres. HESA cost centres represent a group of activities or operations having similar characteristics and broadly similar patterns of costs. Providers map their own organisational structure on to the HESA cost centres. Where a department is split across cost centres, expenditure is assigned to cost centres incurring those costs by using a reasonable accepted methodology. Only English providers categorised as approved (fee cap) on the OfS Register or participating in the Research Excellence Framework complete the entirety of this table. All Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland providers submit this data.

View Table 8 - Expenditure - breakdown by activity and HESA cost centre

The data is collected in a matrix format, with the collection template setting out expenditure type in its columns and activity area in its rows (displayed as a filter in the published table).

The types of expenditure covered include:

• Academic staff costs relate to staff with a contract of employment with the provider and with the responsibility to pay Class 1 National Insurance NI contributions. Academic staff have contracts of employment that include the academic function of teaching, research, or both. Staff supplied by agencies are not included in this column.
• Other staff costs relate to staff with a contract of employment with the provider and with the responsibility to pay Class 1 NI contributions. Other staff have contracts of employment that include administrative function. Staff supplied by agencies are not included here; they are included in other operating expenses.

Restructuring costs displayed in this table relate to one off redundancy costs and those relating to an organisational restructure. This cost is shown as a total rather than granular detail.

Other operating expenses excludes depreciation and amortisation as well as finance costs. The data shown is at a granular level.

Depreciation and amortisation is an estimate of the cost of operating a fixed asset over its economic life and relates to tangible and intangible assets respectively. Depreciation on capitalised equipment is displayed according to where the assets being depreciated are located in the appropriate cost centre. Depreciation on buildings is split between those used for residential, catering operations and other buildings.

Interest and other finance costs relate to interest on borrowings and lease liability. Also included is the finance charge on pension scheme deficits. Interest payable is further analysed between residences and catering and other operations.

During the collection process the totals of each column populate the expenditure heads in the CSCI.

Data displayed in this table is for the current year with no restated data for prior years available. Data displayed relates to all providers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and providers in England who are registered in the approved (fee cap) category of the OfS Register. For providers in England who are registered in the approved category, all data is displayed apart from data relating to the breakdown of research grants and contracts.