1. This document is aimed at those in planning and finance offices who need to have a good understanding of how Research England’s quality-related research (QR) funding and higher education innovation funding (HEIF) grants are calculated. It provides a summary of changes to funding for 2023 to 2024 and explains in detail how the figures in the 2023 to 2024 grant data tables have been derived. Abbreviated references are used in this document, the full title or descriptions are given at the end.
The content of this document is split into three sections to cover the following areas:
Section one explains where further information is available, and describes the process for handling data amendments. It also refers to the terms and conditions of funding which are detailed in a separate publication.
Section two describes the changes to the funding methods in 2023 to 2024.
Section three contains a detailed description for each of the individual tables which form the 2023 to 2024 grant data tables. It is a reference for anyone looking to understand how we have worked out each allocation.
2. The ‘Research England grant allocations basis 2023 to 2024‘ publication summarises our allocations to higher education providers for 2023 to 2024. The accompanying workbook lists most of our formula-based funding for individual providers. Each provider can access their own grant data tables and the supporting documents on the ‘Higher education provider grant data tables 2023 to 2024’ page.
Section one
Further information and requests for changes
3. The circular letter ‘Funding budgets for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025‘ describes the budget decisions taken by the Executive Chair with the endorsement of the Research England Council on funding for 2023 to 2024. This also provides a comparison to 2022 to 2023 allocations.
4. If providers have any questions about their grant, email annualfunding@re.ukri.org
There may be circumstances in which providers wish to request changes to their allocations. Where providers believe that any change to their allocations is necessary, because of amendments to their data, they should contact us in good time. The process for this is described in the ‘Amendments to data’ section.
Amendments to data
5. Research England operates on the expectation that the data signed off as correct by the head of provider is the final data that we will use. This is also consistent with published data. Additionally, we will usually only amend data which affects the current allocations. Therefore, we will only accept amendments to signed-off data in the following circumstances:
- upon completion of any data audit
- where data errors are identified which are widespread, significant and have a material impact on Research England’s use of the data
- in exceptional circumstances
6. Any such amendments will be subject to an assessment process. Those resulting from data error will be reviewed by a joint Office for Students (OfS) and Research England data panel. The panel will judge whether the identified errors are:
- widespread
- significant: data must be substantially incorrect, and errors do not involve re-interpretation
- material: impact of the amendments has a material effect on the funding allocations for which it is used
Once the panel has assessed an amendment, we will not consider the same amendment again. Providers will be informed of the panel decision and they will have an opportunity to appeal within a short timescale.
7. Requests to make any amendments to data must be submitted as follows.
For Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student, Finance and Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) records and OfS Annual Financial Returns (AFR), providers must submit a completed error summary template. Guidance for the joint process is available on the OfS website.
Once providers have submitted a completed error summary template, they should notify Research England by email to data_queries@re.ukri.org.
8. Data amendment panel meetings are held throughout the year, to fit in with the timescales needed to process data for OfS or Research England purposes.
Other changes
9. If providers believe that the allocations should change for any other reason, such as for mergers, email data_queries@re.ukri.org.
The Research England terms and conditions of funding
10. The terms and conditions of funding set out the formal relationship between UK Research and Innovation and the providers that it funds in relation to funds administered through Research England.
The terms and conditions include those related to provision of data and compliance with governance and data assurance requirements. Providers should read the terms and conditions for 2023 to 2024 in conjunction with this publication.
Section two
Developments to funding methods for 2023 to 2024
11. There are no changes to the funding method for research.
12. For the 2023 to 2024 HEIF allocations the limit on the year-on-year percentage increase will revert to 10%. This limit was temporarily raised last year to accommodate a budget increase.
Section three
The grant data tables
13. There are six grant data tables, which show how funding for providers has been derived. They are described in detail in this document. In summary:
- table A provides summary details of allocations of funding for QR and HEIF (largely derived from the calculations on subsequent tables), it also shows allocations for the Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund
- table B shows the calculation of mainstream QR and London weighting on mainstream QR
- table C shows the calculation of the QR charity support fund and QR business research element
- table D shows the calculation of the QR research degree programme (RDP) supervision fund
- table E shows the HEIF allocations
- table F shows the parameters used in the HEIF allocations
14. In this document, each row and column of the published grant data tables is described beneath a subheading in the order that they appear in the tables. Explanatory text references:
- the higher education provider grant data tables 2023 to 2024
- the HESA HE-BCI return
- data provided by Innovate UK
- the OfS AFR (Annual Financial Return)
- the HESA Student record
15. Where any of the latter four sources are referred to, this is made clear in the text. Otherwise, references are to the published grant data tables.
Table A: summary of allocations
16. This section is a summary of the grant allocations shown in Tables B, C, D and E, together with funding for museums, galleries, and collections. Where figures are not simply copied from the other tables, explanations of how the figures are calculated are given in paragraphs 17 and 18.
QR funding for National Research Libraries
17. This allocation, totalling £7 million, is for five libraries which were designated as being of national importance.
Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund
18. This allocation, totalling £12 million, provides support for museums, galleries and collections in the sector. It helps them serve the wider research community, where this costs them significantly more than meeting the needs of their own researchers and students.
Table B: Mainstream QR funds and London weighting
19. The table shows the breakdown of funds by Research Excellence Framework (REF) unit of assessment (UOA). Values in the table have been rounded for display purposes. The calculations are done to several decimal places, so there may be some rounding differences within the table.
20. A total of £1,266 million is being allocated for 2023 to 2024. London weighting on mainstream QR is calculated as 12% for inner London and 8% for outer London of the mainstream QR funds for each UOA. It totals £38 million for the sector.
21. This table is published exclusively as a CSV file.
UKPRN
22. This column shows the UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) of the provider.
Provider
23. This column shows the name of the provider.
Main Panel
24. This column shows the REF 2021 Main Panel to which each UOA belongs.
UOA and UOA name
25. UOAs are shown only where the quality profile has some activity at the three star or four star level. The multiple submission classification is shown where required.
Sub-profile
26. This column shows the sub-profile reflecting the three elements of outputs, impact and environment assessed in each submission.
Sub-profile percentages
27. These five columns show the sub-profile outcomes for each UOA. The percentages at each quality level match those published on the REF 2021 website. (Sub-profiles for submissions with fewer than three headcount staff submitted to the REF have been suppressed).
Volume
28. These five columns show the volume at each quality level to reflect the volume sub-profile for the UOA.
Total funded volume
29. The sum of the volume associated with levels four star and three star only in the volume sub-profile.
Quality-weighted volume
30. These five columns show the quality-weighted volume (notional staff full-time equivalent (FTE)) at each quality level to reflect the quality sub-profile for the UOA. The quality weightings are shown at Table 1.
Total quality-weighted volume
31. This column shows the weighted sum of the quality-weighted volume columns. The quality weightings are shown at Table 1.
Table 1: Mainstream QR quality weightings
| Quality rating | Abbreviated description | Funding weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Four star (4*) | World-leading | 4 |
| Three star (3*) | Internationally excellent | 1 |
| Two star (2*) | Recognised internationally | 0 |
| One star (1*) | Recognised nationally | 0 |
| Unclassified | Below the standard of nationally recognised work | 0 |
Mainstream QR funds (£)
32. For each UOA, this is calculated in proportion to each provider’s share of the sector total quality-weighted volume.
London weighting on mainstream QR (£)
33. This is calculated as 12% for inner London and 8% for outer London of the mainstream QR funds (£) for each UOA.
Table C: QR charity support fund and QR business research element
34. This table shows the calculation of allocations of research funding for:
- QR charity support fund
- QR business research element
35. The QR charities and QR business allocations are calculated in proportion to research income in the most recent four-year period (AFR19 to AFR22).
QR charity support fund
36. A total of £219 million is being allocated for 2023 to 2024, based on the average of income reported to the OfS AFR19 to AFR22.
Research income from charities (£)
37. This is the sum of the following figures from the four most recent OfS AFR (AFR19 to AFR22):
- AFR research grants and contracts which is calculated as total research grants and contracts (Head 4) minus co-investment from external sources on funding council-funded projects (included in Heads 1 to 4 above) (Head 5) from the following sources:
- UK-based charities (open competitive process) (AFR Table 5 Column 2)
- EU-based charities (open competitive process) (AFR Table 5 Column 9)
- Non-EU-based charities (open competitive process) (AFR Table 5 Column 12)
- AFR against the heading Income for general research studentships from charities (open competitive process) (Head 4a)
Average annual income (£)
38. This is the average of the research income from charities from the most recent four-year period.
London-weighted research income (£)
39. This is average annual income (£) multiplied by London weighting.
QR charity support fund (£)
40. This is London-weighted charities income (£) multiplied by rate.
London weighting
41. This is 1.12 for providers in inner London, 1.08 for those in outer London and 1.00 for other providers.
QR charity support rate
42. The rate of funding is approximately 19p per £1 of London-weighted charities income (£).
QR business research element
43. A total of £114 million is being allocated for 2023 to 2024, based on the average of income reported to the OfS AFR19 to AFR22.
Research income from businesses (£)
44. This is the sum of the following figures from the OfS AFR from the most recent four-year period (AFR19 to AFR22):
- AFR Table 5 research grants and contracts which is calculated as total research grants and contracts (Head 4) minus co-investment from external sources on Research England funded projects (included in rows 1 to 4 above) (Head 5) from the following sources:
- UK industry, commerce and public corporations (AFR Table 5 Column 6)
- EU industry, commerce and public corporations (AFR Table 5 Column 10)
- Non-EU industry, commerce and public corporations (Table 5 Column 13)
Average annual income (£)
45. This is the average of the research income from businesses from the most recent most recent four-year period.
QR business research element (£)
46. This is average annual income (£) multiplied by the rate.
QR business research element rate
47. The rate of funding is approximately 20p per £1 of average annual income (£).
Table D: QR RDP supervision funds
48. QR RDP (research degree programme) supervision funding is allocated only for those UOAs for which mainstream QR is provided. It is calculated to reflect students eligible to pay home fees, postgraduate researchers (PGR) FTEs, quality, London weighting, and the relative costs of the subjects.
Figures in the table have been rounded for display purposes. The calculations are done to several decimal places, so there may be some rounding differences within the table. A total of £339 million is being allocated for 2023 to 2024.
49. Data that identifies different higher education providers participating in formal collaborative programmes for research training has been used to calculate QR RDP supervision funding since 2018 to 2019.
50. This table is published exclusively as a CSV file.
UKPRN
51. This column shows the UKPRN (UK Provider Reference Number) of the provider.
Provider
52. This column shows the name of the provider.
Main panel
53. This column shows the REF 2021 main panel to which each UOA belongs.
UOA and UOA name
54. UOAs are shown only where the quality profile has some activity at the three star or four star level. The multiple submission classification is shown where required.
UKPRN of collaborating provider
55. This column shows the UKPRN for any UOA which is taught under a collaborative arrangement.
56. A separate row shows at UOA level for each collaborative arrangement identified on the 2021 to 2022 HESA student record.
Name of collaborating provider
57. This column shows the name of the collaborating provider from the previous column.
Overall quality profile (%)
58. These five columns show the quality profile outcomes for each UOA. The percentages at each quality level match the overall profiles published on the REF 2021 website.
Quality score
59. A quality score is calculated for each department based on the amount of three star and four star activity as a proportion of total activity at two star quality and above in the quality profiles.
Adjusted PGR FTEs
60. This is eligible PGR FTEs derived from 2021 to 2022 HESA student data.
61. The eligible PGR FTEs have been adjusted to additionally reflect eligible PGR FTEs for students recorded in the 2021 to 2022 HESA student record as concurrently supervised by other providers who were not eligible to submit to REF 2021. The adjustment has been done at the student instance level, and it is these adjusted FTEs that are used in the funding calculation. Further details will be available in a funding summary which will be released separately.
Weighted adjusted PGR FTEs (London, cost and quality-weighted)
62. For each UOA this is the product of:
- adjusted PGR FTEs
- quality score
- a weighting of 1.12 for providers in inner London, 1.08 for those in outer London and 1.00 for all other providers
- the appropriate relative cost weight
Subject cost weighting
The subject cost weightings are:
- high-cost laboratory and clinical subjects, weighting 1.6
- intermediate-cost subjects, weighting 1.3
- others, weighting 1.0
QR RDP supervision funds (£)
63. This is determined by distributing the total QR RDP supervision fund to departments in proportion to weighted adjusted PGR FTEs (London, cost and quality-weighted). The rate of funding is approximately £5,051.
Table E: HEIF allocations
64. This shows the calculation of HEIF allocations.
2019 to 2020 income (£)
65. These are the income figures as reported in the HESA HE-BCI record 2019 to 2020, OfS AFR 2020, or as supplied to us by Innovate UK.
2020 to 2021 income (£)
66. These are the income figures as reported in the HESA HE-BCI record 2020 to 2021, OfS AFR 2021, or as supplied to us by Innovate UK.
2021 to 2022 income (£)
67. These are the income figures as reported in the HESA HE-BCI record 2021 to 2022, OfS AFR 2022, or as supplied to us by Innovate UK.
HE-BCI survey
68. This shows the reported income, as reported to HESA on the relevant HE-BCI survey, identified as follows:
- income from contract research: Total value of contracts (HE-BCI Table 1, Head 2h)
- income from consultancy: Total income (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 1h)
- income from equipment and facilities: Total income (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 2h)
- income from regeneration: Total programmes (HE-BCI Table 3, Head 1f)
- income from intellectual property: Sub-total IP income (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3d)
- income from SMEs in the above categories: the sum of the following figures:
- contract research (excluding any already returned in Head 1 and research councils), Total value with SMEs (HE-BCI Table 1, Head 2b)
- consultancy, total value with SMEs (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 1b)
- facilities and equipment related services – organisations involved and income, total value with SMEs (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 2b)
- IP income (including patents, copyright, design, registration and trade marks), non-software licenses income, SMEs (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3a.i.)
- IP income (including patents, copyright, design, registration and trade marks), Software licenses income, SMEs (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3b.i.)
- IP income (including patents, copyright, design, registration and trade marks), other IP income, SMEs (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3c.i.)
Innovate UK – KTP income
69. This is the relevant value of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) income, as reported to us by Innovate UK.
Income from NCB provision
70. This shows the reported income for non-credit bearing (NCB) course fees, as reported to the OfS on the AFR for the most recent three-year period (AFR20 to AFR22), identified as follows:
- analysis of income: course fees and education contracts analysed by domicile, mode, level and source, non-credit bearing course fees (AFR Table 6, Head 2)
Total per year
71. These are the relevant sums of the incomes figures in the previous eight rows.
Total weighted qualifying income
72. This is the sum of the following:
- 2019 to 2020 income (£) total per year multiplied by 2
- 2020 to 2021 income (£) total per year multiplied by 3
- 2021 to 2022 income (£) total per year multiplied by 5
HEIF allocation
Main allocation (£)
73. This shows the total main allocation (subject to the parameters as shown in Table F).
Top-up allocation (£)
74. This is the amount of top-up allocated, distributed among the providers at the cap of main allocation, based on their shares of qualifying income, calculated according to the HEIF allocation method (subject to the parameters as shown on Table F).
Total allocation (£)
75. This is the sum of the main allocation and top-up allocation.
Table F: HEIF formula parameters
Total HEIF budget
77. This sets out the breakdown of total HEIF funds available.
Main allocation
78. This sets out the total amount to be allocated using the main allocation formula. For 2023 to 2024, this is £240 million.
Top-up allocation
79. The allocation is distributed among the providers at the cap of the main allocation, based on their shares of qualifying income (calculated according to the HEIF allocation method). For 2023 to 2024, this totals £20 million.
Total HEIF budget
80. This is the sum of main allocation and the top-up allocation, and totals £260 million for 2023 to 2024.
HEIF formula parameters
81. This sets out the parameters which apply to the main allocation and top-up allocation.
Main allocation: minimum threshold
This is the minimum allocation which providers need to achieve through the formula to receive an allocation at all. For 2023 to 2024, the minimum allocation threshold is £250,000 per year.
Main allocation: maximum allocation
This is the cap on individual provider allocations, which sets the upper limit for total main HEIF funds a provider can receive. For 2023 to 2024, the maximum allocation is £4.670 million.
Yearly moderation factors
These are the factors by which year-on-year changes to allocations are moderated subject to the threshold and maximum. Meaning that no provider’s main allocation has an increase of more than 10% or a decrease of more than 10% compared to their previous year’s main allocation.
Top-up allocation: Minimum allocation
The minimum allocation eligible providers (those providers at the cap of main allocations) can receive as a top-up allocation. For 2023 to 2024, the minimum top-up allocation is £200,000.
Top-up allocation: Maximum allocation
The maximum allocation eligible providers (those providers at the cap of main allocations) can receive as a top-up allocation. For 2023 to 2024, the maximum top-up allocation is £1 million.
Explanation of abbreviations and terms
AFR
Annual Financial Return: the finance return collected by the Office for Students
Department
In relation to QR RDP supervision fund ‘department’ means a group of staff and their research activity returned in a single submission within one subject UOA, irrespective of whether this forms a single administrative unit within the provider.
FTE
Full-time equivalent
HE-BCI
The HESA Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction return, used to inform knowledge exchange funding
HEIF
Higher Education Innovation Funding
HEP
Higher education provider
HESA
Higher Education Statistics Agency
KTP
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (income as reported to us by Innovate UK)
OfS
Office for Students
PGR
Postgraduate researchers
QR
Quality-related research (funds)
RDP
Research degree programme
REF
Research Excellence Framework. REF 2021 results
UKPRN
UOA
Unit of assessment, used in the REF and research funding method