HESA Staff record will extend beyond academics in England and Northern Ireland

HESA intends to collect data on professional, technical, and operational staff in England and Northern Ireland from 2027-28 and included in the published staff record from 2028-29 – with further detail on how this will be done to follow.

Data on what were once rather reductively called “non-academic staff” is already required from providers in Scotland and Wales – but following the conclusion of the recent “major review” it looks like the controversial 2019-20 changes (instigated at the request of the Office for Students in the interests of reducing regulatory burden) will be rolled back.

Other potential expansions include staff who are not directly employed by providers, and an increase in the amount of data collected on what staff actually do. All staff who have an ORCID (unique individual research identifier) will see it returned to HESA, and coverage of fields on religion, gender identity, and sexual orientation will be extended to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

From 2027-28 employers will be expected to return information on visa types and end dates for all staff who have a visa – this has been a direct request from DfE, who needs the data to understand the impact of tier 2 (skilled worker) visa changes on academic staff.

This has been hugely controversial, with many universities and others expressing concern about the collection and use of this data via the staff record. As the consultation response summary has it:

Particular concerns were raised about both the changeability of the UK visas and immigration system, with respondents questioning the viability and meaningfulness of longitudinal data collection, and the sensitivity of the data, with many highlighting concerns around the reception of the requirements among staff and potential for misuse of data that is politically loaded

One of the furthest reaching reforms will be improvements to the use and sharing of STAFFID codes, a long standing issue with this collection. The eventual plan is to be able to understand career trajectories across multiple providers, and things will start with further guidance for next year – but, as HESA warns us:

If there is no improvement in the use and sharing of STAFFIDs between providers, we will have to add names into the record after a few years. However, if improvements are made, and we can link between years of data and across providers successfully, this will be reconsidered.

The detail of changes and implementation within the record will be communicated to the sector by the end of the January before the academic year in question. Employers will look very closely at the amount of burden these changes may introduce.