HESA reporting

Updated March 2026

Each year the University has a statutory requirement to produce a statistical return to the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), providing detailed information about its workforce. HESA is the official agency for the collection, analysis and dissemination of quantitative information about higher education in the UK. They collect information on behalf of their statutory customers.

Following a merger in 2022, Jisc became the data controller for all staff and student data previously collected by HESA. However, the national higher education data collection referenced here is still known as the HESA Staff record.

The records submitted to HESA do not include names. Any information connecting these identifiers to staff names is retained locally within the University’s HR systems. Most of the information provided relates to your appointment and is extracted from our existing HR records.

It is important that the data we return to HESA is complete and accurate. Providing sensitive information (such as ethnicity, disability or other protected characteristics) is always voluntary but having complete and accurate data helps the University meet its statutory reporting obligations and improves equality monitoring. Staff are encouraged to keep their personal information updated through my.HR (the University’s Employee Self-Service System). This includes your highest qualification held. Academic members of staff are also required to provide details of any Academic Teaching Qualifications they hold.

Further information about why this data is needed can be found by going to the HESA website and within the HESA staff collection privacy notice.

Under UK data protection legislation you have the right to request a copy of the data held about you. If you have any concerns about, or objections to, the use of data for these purposes, please contact Jisc at data.protection@hesa.ac.uk or write to the Data Protection Officer, Jisc, 4 Portwall Lane, Bristol, BS1 6NB.

If you have any other queries or concerns, please contact Human Resources.