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Introduction - Staff 2010/11

Staff population

The 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, or for whom the HEI is liable to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions. Other staff, such as those employed under consultancy contracts, or on the basis of payment of fees for services but without a contract of employment, are not included in the record.

The staff return covers data supplied by 165 HEIs (131 in England, 11 in Wales, 19 in Scotland, 4 in Northern Ireland); one of the English HEIs, The University of Buckingham, is a non-publicly-funded institution voluntarily providing data to HESA. The number of Welsh institutions in this publication is different from the number reported in some other HESA products because of the inclusion of staff data from The University of Wales (central functions).

In 2010/11 (that is, on 1 December 2010) there were in total, excluding atypical, 381,790 staff (387,430 in 2009/10) in the HE sector, of whom 251,320 were full-time staff (253,965 in 2009/10) and 130,465 part-time staff (133,460 in 2009/10). In addition, there were 183,490 atypical staff (183,155 in 2009/10). Throughout this introduction, unless otherwise stated, staff numbers exclude atypical staff.

All figures provided in the introduction tables and text are based on full-person equivalents (FPE; headcounts) rather than full-time equivalents (FTE; weighted by proportion relative to full-time). Where data has been disaggregated by contract characteristics, such as activity, the FPE figures have been apportioned across the contract(s) held by the staff member.

The total number of academic professionals in 2010/11 was 181,185, a decrease of 0.2% between 2009/10 and 2010/11. Of the academic staff, 118,120 were full-time and 63,065 were part-time. In addition, there were 78,340 atypical academic staff, constituting 42.7% of all atypical staff.

Academic professionals made up almost half (47.0%) of the full-time staff population. The second largest group was library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants which made up 13.4% of the full-time staff population. Among part-time staff, 48.3% were academic professionals.

Table A shows the overall pattern of staffing in UK HEIs, including atypical staff. Chart 1 below illustrates the distribution of all full-time staff, excluding atypical, by activity (sourced from Table A).

Key for Charts 1, 2 and 3 below:

  • A Managers
  • B Academic professionals
  • C Non-academic professionals
  • D Laboratory, engineering, building, IT & medical technicians (including nurses)
  • E Student welfare workers, careers advisors, vocational training instructors, personnel & planning officers
  • F Artistic, media, public relations, marketing & sports occupations
  • G Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants
  • H Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists
  • I Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers
  • J Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupations
  • K Retail & customer service occupations
  • L Drivers, maintenance supervisors & plant operatives
  • M Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters & maintenance workers

Percentage of full-time staff (excluding atypical) by activity 2010/11

Gender

Overall, females made up 53.7% of the staff population and 52.8% of the atypical staff population. Almost half (46.9%) of all full-time staff and nearly two thirds (67.0%) of all part-time staff were female.

For academic staff, the overall proportion of females was lower at 44.2%. This was also the case for full-time and part-time academic staff of whom 38.6% and 54.6% were female. The proportion of atypical academic staff who were female was 47.2%.

Chart 2 below provides the gender proportions by activity of full-time staff (sourced from Table A).

Gender of full-time staff (excluding atypical) by activity 2010/11

Chart 3 provides equivalent data to Chart 2, but for part-time staff (sourced from Table A).

Gender of part-time staff (excluding atypical) by activity 2010/11

Across all activities, there were higher proportions of female part-time staff than male part-time staff, except amongst drivers, maintenance supervisors and plant operatives for which there were 48.8% females.

Table B and Table C respectively provide a breakdown of academic and non-academic staffing in HE. Atypicals have been excluded from these as the majority of the data is not collected for atypical staff.

Chart 4 below provides the proportions of full-time and part-time academic staff by academic employment function (sourced from Table B).

Distribution of full-time and part-time academic staff (excluding atypical) by academic employment function 2010/11

Of the 181,185 academic staff employed by UK HEIs, 118,120, or 65.2% were in full-time employment. Most full-time staff were in teaching and research (64.3%) whereas part-time staff had a majority in teaching only (58.9%).

Among full-time academic staff, 40.9% had contract salaries between £41,489 and £55,758. For part-time academic staff, 46.0% had contract salaries between £30,870 and £41,489. It is worth clarifying here that salaries for part-time staff are not reported to HESA as pro-rata amounts but as salaries scaled up to full-time equivalent rates. Therefore the different modal points noted are likely to reflect material differences in the profiles of full and part-time staff.

Chart 5 below illustrates the distribution of female and male full-time academic staff by salary range (sourced from Table B). Higher proportions of male full-time academic staff (25.8%) had contract salaries of £55,758 or over than female full-time academic staff (12.4%).

Distribution of female and male full-time academic staff (excluding atypical) by salary range 2010/11

The total number of non-academic staff employed by UK HEIs was 200,605. Of these, 133,200 or 66.4% were in full-time employment.

Just over half, 52.9%, of full-time non-academic posts were managerial, professional and technical. Of the non-academic part-time staff, 26.9% were in managerial, professional and technical posts.

Chart 6 below provides the proportions of staff within each activity group by contract salary range (sourced from Table C). The salary ranges have been defined with reference to the nationally–agreed pay spine for non-clinical staff.

Distribution of staff (excluding atypical) within each activity group by salary range 2010/11

Higher proportions of academic staff had contract salaries in the top three salary ranges than staff in the other activity groups. Similar proportions of academic staff (34.6%) and managerial, professional & technical staff (33.3%) had contract salaries between £30,870 and £41,489. Nearly two thirds (64.7%) of manual staff had contract salaries less than £17,179. Almost half (43.6%) of clerical staff had contract salaries between £17,179 and £22,971.

Inflow/outflow of academic staff

Table D provides details of the inflow and outflow of academic staff during the year based on headcount numbers (rather than full-person-equivalent used in all other contexts) to give an indication of the number of staff who take up and leave academic posts at HEIs. For the purpose of this table only, full-time academic staff are those members who spend at least 50% of their time engaged in full-time academic contracts. Similarly, part-time academic staff are those members who spend at least 50% of their time engaged in part-time academic contracts.

This results in academic staff numbers that are slightly different from those given in images/stories/hesa/Pubs_Intro_Graphics/STAFF_1011 B and C. Data given in table D also differs from that given in the main images/stories/hesa/Pubs_Intro_Graphics/STAFF_1011 20-22 which are based on staff contracts rather than headcount.

Table D involves linkage between the staff records for 2009/10 and 2010/11. Staff inflow counts the number of full-time or part-time academic staff as at 1 December 2010 who were not identified as being at a UK HEI on 1 December 2009. Staff outflow counts the number of full-time or part-time academic staff as at 1 December 2009 who were not identified as being at a UK HEI on 1 December 2010. Staff inflow and outflow numbers have been broken down by previous employment and leaving destination respectively. High proportions of unknowns, particularly amongst the leaving destination, mean that caution must be exercised when analysing this data.

The (headcount) number of full-time academic staff has increased from 118,160 to 118,420 during the year, an increase of 0.2%. The number of part-time academic staff decreased from 64,665 to 64,025 (1.0%) during the year.

The inflow of staff into full-time academic posts was lower (5,260 staff; 4.4%) than the inflow into part-time academic posts (8,005 staff; 12.5%). The outflow of staff from full-time academic posts was higher (6,525 staff; 5.5%) than the inflow. This was not the case for part-time staff for which the outflow was lower (6,290 staff; 9.7%) than the inflow.

Age of academic staff

Table E presents the age distribution of full-time academic staff by salary range.

Of those staff whose age was known, 42.0% were aged over 45 and 12.5% were aged between 51 and 55.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 43.2 and of part-time staff, 45.0 [from Table 3a]. The average age of atypical academic staff was 40.7 [from Table 3b].

Chart 7 provides the proportions of full-time academic staff by contract salary and age (sourced from Table E.

Distribution of full-time academic staff (excluding atypical) within each group by salary range 2010/11

In the 25 and under age group, 71.4% of full-time academic staff earned a contract salary between £22,971 and £30,870 whereas the majority 61.9% of the 31–35 age group earned a salary between £30,870 and £41,489. In the 46–50 age group, the majority (54.0%) of full-time academic staff earned a salary between £41,489 and £55,758. In the top two age groups, 61–65 years and 66 years & over, 54.2% and 60.2% respectively earned a contract salary of £55,758 or more.

Ethnicity of all staff

In Table F ethnicity is shown broken down by activity group and mode of employment. The ethnicity data within this introduction refers to staff of all nationalities.

Of all full-time and part-time staff, 92.7% reported their ethnicity. The response rate did not vary greatly by activity group and mode of employment. Among staff of known ethnicity, the proportion from ethnic minority groups varied, with greater representation among academic staff at 12.4% than among non-academic staff at 10.0%.

Ethnicity was reported for over two thirds (69.2%) of atypical staff (66.5% in 2009/10). Of those atypical staff of known ethnicity, 18.4% were from ethnic minority groups.

Table G provides the ethnic breakdown of staff by activity group for all staff, including atypical. The charts series 8 below illustrate the data from Table G in pie chart format for all staff, excluding atypical.

Ethnicity of all staff 2010/11

Disability of all staff

Table H presents information on disability by activity group and mode of employment for all staff, in a similar style to Table F.

Disability status was reported for 91.7% of all full-time and part-time staff. Of those of known disability status, 3.5% declared a disability. For full-time and part-time academic staff, the percentages were 91.4% reported and 2.9% declared disabled. For atypical staff the percentages were 83.8% reported and 2.0% declared disabled.

Table I provides a disability breakdown, based on the staff members’ own assessment, of staff by activity group. The chart series 9 below illustrate the data from Table I in pie chart format.

Disability of all staff 2010/11

Funding, professorial status, and gender of full-time academic staff

Table J provides data on full-time academic staff by clinical status, professorial role, gender and source of basic salary. Of all full-time academic posts, 71.7% were wholly financed by the institutions themselves.

The proportion of women among full-time clinical academic staff professors was 16.0% and among non-clinical academic staff professors was 19.9%. Of those staff who were not professors, 45.6% of full-time clinical academic staff were female and 41.3% of non-clinical academic staff were female.

49.5% of full-time clinical staff were wholly institutionally financed compared with 73.0% of non-clinical academic staff. This reflects the greater prevalence of joint funding arrangements for clinical staff such as joint contracts involving the NHS.

Of all full-time clinical academic staff, 21.1% were professors compared with 12.4% of non-clinical full-time academic staff.

Cost centre distribution of full-time academic staff

The data in Table K provides a breakdown of full-time academic staff by cost centre group, source of basic salary and gender.

44.4% of full-time academic staff in medicine, dentistry & health and 44.5% in biological, mathematical & physical sciences were financed other than wholly by the institutions themselves. Cost centre groups with the lowest percentage of partially or wholly externally funded full-time academic staff were in the areas of design, creative and performing arts 3.2%, education 6.8%.

Chart 10 below provides the gender proportions by cost centre of full-time staff (sourced from Table K).

Distribution of female and male full-time academic staff (excluding atypical) by cost centre group 2010/11

Pattern of employment of academic staff

Table L shows academic staff by academic employment function, gender, mode of employment and terms of employment.

Among staff who only had teaching responsibilities, the majority of full-time staff were on open-ended/permanent contracts (78.1% female and 80.3% male) whereas the majority of part-time staff were on fixed-term contracts (53.9% female and 57.5% male). Of the staff with teaching and research responsibilities, more than 93.5% of full-time staff were on open ended/permanent staff contracts. The opposite was true of research only staff, who had a high proportion of fixed-term contracts in both full-time (70.2% female and 68.9% male) and in part-time (62.9% female and 72.7% male).

Chart 11 below illustrates the proportions of open-ended/permanent and fixed-term contract academic staff by mode of employment and gender.

Terms of employment of academic staff (excluding atypical) by academic employment function, mode of employment and gender 2010/11

© Higher Education Statistics Agency Limited 2012