University staff statistics: Notice

21 January 2008

University staff statistics published in May 2007 as an appendix to the Allocations Report (Reporter, 2006-07, p. 714) indicated that numbers of academic-related staff had risen by approximately 40% during the period 2001-02 to 2006-07 while the number of established University teaching officers had remained essentially unchanged over the same period.

The Planning and Resources Committee and the Council requested analysis of the data, and the Council has agreed to a request by the Board of Scrutiny in their Twelfth Report that the analysis should be published.

An analysis of the changes in numbers of different staff groups between July 2001 and July 2006, broken down by areas of activity, is shown in Table 1. These numbers do not reconcile directly with those given in the Allocations Report. By tradition, the staff statistics provided in the Allocations Report are a recent snapshot of total employees on the payroll (usually for February of the corresponding year). While the totals are reliable, they cannot readily be analysed, particularly for past years. More detailed data are compiled for 31 July each year and these datasets have been used below to compare 2001 and 2006. It is apparent that 31 July corresponds to a period of considerable staff turnover, particularly for contract research staff, certain categories of support staff, and temporary staff, and numbers in these categories are notably lower in July than in February as published in the Allocations Report. The numbers of academic-related staff shown in Table 1 are, however, close to those in the Allocations Report.

The analysis confirms the rise in academic-related staff: the number has risen by 343 over the period, or 42%. Of these 128 are computing staff and 155 are staff in the Unified Administrative Service (UAS). It is clear that Departments and Institutions throughout the University, as well as the centre, have recruited increasing numbers of academic-related staff.

Table 1 also shows total staff numbers in all categories by activity. This analysis also indicates growth in the central administration.¹ Total University staff numbers have risen by about 12% over the period while UAS staff numbers have risen by about 44%. These numbers should be interpreted cautiously because there has been some movement in the categorization of activity during the period. For example, during the period in question staff of the Corporate Liaison Office and the Childcare Office were transferred into the UAS. In this analysis, no attempt has been made to reconcile the staff numbers with these movements. The Shattock report on issues arising out of the CAPSA project (Reporter, 2001-02, p. 179) proposed a number of measures to strengthen the administrative capacity of the University. As a consequence, the Council asked the Registrary for a development plan for the Unified Administrative Service (Reporter, 2001-02, p. 502). At its meeting on 25 March 2002, the Council received that plan and agreed to inform the Resource Management Committee that it gave general support to the proposals contained in it. Additional resources for that purpose were included in Allocations Reports in succeeding years.

Table 1 is available to download as a PDF:

•  Table 1

Staff numbers are one indication of activity and expenditure but they do not provide a complete picture. The use of consultants, external contractors, and agency staff, for example, involves a great deal of expenditure but is not reflected in staff numbers. The University now employs its own legal team but has hitherto used external legal advice. Table 2 compares the Chest allocations made to academic Departments and Institutions with those made for all other purposes over the 2001-2006 period. The ratio is almost constant. Table 3 shows total expenditure from all sources in academic Schools and Institutions and compares this with expenditure on support and all other activities, including premises costs and College fee transfer. These data indicate that expenditure in academic Departments and Institutions is increasing as a proportion of the total, a picture which contrasts with that painted by an analysis of staff numbers alone.

The Council considers that monitoring trends in staff numbers and patterns of expenditure is important and that the traditional representation of staff statistics in the Allocations Report is insufficiently informative. The Council has agreed that in future Allocations Reports the staff statistics and total expenditure patterns will be set out as shown here in Tables 1 and 3, and any notable changes will be explained.

Table 2

Notes:

Other academic institutions includes:
Centre for African Studies, Institute of Biotechnology, Development Studies, Institute of Continuing Education (ICE), Centre for International Studies, Centre for Latin-American Studies, up to 2004-05, but from 2005-06 all but ICE are included within allocations to Schools (Arts and Humanities, Humanities and Social Sciences, Technology).
*UAS staff assigned to Schools were within School budgets from 2005-06 onwards so the 2000-01 Central Admin allocation is adjusted to transfer them.

Data from Estimates then Blue Book

Table 3

Notes:

*other academic institutions total has been adjusted to remove Centre for Applied Research in Educational Technologies

Other institutions and activities include:
Academic Services, Staff and Student Services, Central Administrative Departments, Premises costs and Payments to Colleges.
UAS staff assigned to Schools were reported as expenditure in the UAS in both 2000-01 and 2005-06 so expenditure figures are adjusted to transfer this to Schools in both cases.

Data from Financial Management Information Section B excluding Associated Trusts, Cambridge Assessment, and Cambridge University Press.

¹ There are some staff based in Departments and Institutions who are members of the UAS (departmental administrators, School and Faculty administrators, School Finance managers, etc.) and who are recorded as UAS staff in some datasets. These staff (currently 45 in total) are recorded in Table 1 according to their Department/School affiliation, and are not included in the UAS totals.