Staff HESA Return Guidance

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) is the official agency responsible for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about HE in the UK.

The University is required to submit a selection of personal and employment information held about its employees, in coded and anonomised form, to HESA on an annual basis.

The data extracted from staff records is used in an anonymised form, primarily for statistical analysis, by HESA and those bodies which require it to carry out their statutory functions in relation to the funding of education. This use may result in the publication and release of data to other approved users, which may include academic researchers and unions. Data in personal records is not used by HESA in a way that could affect an individual. Name and contact details are not made available to HESA and precautions are taken to minimise the risk of identification of individuals from the published and released data.

This page provides reference information for those teams involved in the production of the annual staff HESA return.

Collection Guidance and Table Descriptions: although the specific return criteria contained in these links is provided in more detail than is needed for HR Teams, the lists of valid entries for each field may prove helpful.

Activity Code Guidance: this contains a list of generic position titles and the associated activity code that is recommended to be used. It is helpful when a suitable activity code isn't obviously apparent and there is no existing position at Leeds Met to use as a comparison.

Academic Cost Centres: in order to ensure that the Staff, Student and Finance returns are correctly aligned, the organisational structure document contains the codes that should be used consistently for academic cost centres.

HESA Staff ID Contacts: the staff identifier is a unique code allocated to all staff included on the return and is assigned when a member of staff commences employment at any HE institution. The contact list is used to obtain the staff identifier when an employee has previously been employed at a different institution.

Classification of Academic Professionals: this document contains internal guidance on positions that should be classified as academic professionals based on role content. It is very import to ensure that the activity code is assigned in strict accordance with the given criteria.

Further guidance and the password for protected documents (for relevant staff) can be obtained via the contacts specified below.