In January 2025, HESA opened a second consultation on higher education staff statistics. The Staff record consultation formed part of a wider review which started with an evidence gathering survey in 2023.
HESA's proposals sought to widen the coverage of the record to non-academic staff and staff not directly employed by institutions, as well as to collect a number of further data items.
The consultation ran from 16 January 2025 to 3 April 2025.
Our response
Our response makes clear that we do not support the proposals for an expanded Staff record. We feel the changes would constitute a significant increase in data burden with no justifiable benefits for providers or the sector as a whole. We argue that some of the proposals are unnecessary and excessive and therefore do not meet the requirements of data protection regulation.
We highlight the breadth of staff at IHE member institutions that would now be in scope of the return, and that an expanded collection would disproportionately impact small institutions. We emphasise that these institutions have limited resource (already stretched by the implementation of Data Futures) and systems that have not been designed to collect and store the level of detailed information proposed.
Our response considers each proposal in turn, and does in some cases provide suggestions of where burden could be reduced if the proposed changes were to go ahead. However, overall, we do not the support the proposals and urge HESA to reconsider in full.
Read our full response using the download link below.