Purpose of this document
1. This document is aimed at those in planning and finance offices who need to have a good understanding of how Research England’s quality-related research (QR) funding and Higher Education Innovation Funding (HEIF) grants are calculated. It provides a summary of changes to funding for 2025 to 2026 and explains in detail how the figures in the 2025 to 2026 grant data tables have been derived. Abbreviated references are used in this document; the full title or descriptions are given at the end. The content of this document is split into three sections to cover the following areas.
Section one explains where further information can be found and describes the process for handling data amendments. It also refers to the terms and conditions of funding which are detailed in a separate publication.
Section two describes the changes to the funding methods in 2025 to 2026 and the presentation of the grant data tables.
Section three contains a detailed description of each of the individual tables, which form the 2025 to 2026 grant data tables. It is intended to be a reference for anyone looking to understand how each allocation has been derived.
2. The accompanying Research England grant allocation data tables detail our formula-based funding for individual higher education providers (HEPs). Each HEP can access their own grant data tables and the supporting documents through the Research England formula-based funding for 2025 to 2026 supporting information page.
Section one: further information and requests for changes
3. Circular letter Research England funding budgets 2025 to 2026 describes the budget decisions taken by the Executive Chair with the endorsement of the Research England Council on funding for 2025 to 2026. This also provides a comparison to 2024 to 2025 allocations.
4. If you have any questions about your grant, email annualfunding@re.ukri.org
5. There may be circumstances in which HEPs wish to request changes to their allocations. Where HEPs believe that any change to their allocations is necessary, because of amendments to their data, they should contact us in good time. The process for this is described in the Amendments to data section.
Amendments to data
6. Research England operates on the expectation that the data signed off as correct by the head of provider is the final data that we will use. This is also consistent with published data.
7. Additionally, we will usually only amend data which affects the current allocations. Therefore, we will only accept amendments to signed off data in the following circumstances:
- upon completion of any data audit
- where data errors are identified, which are assessed to be widespread, significant and have a material impact on Research England’s use of the data
- in exceptional circumstances
8. Any such amendments will be subject to an assessment process to judge whether the identified errors are all of the following:
- widespread
- significant: data must be substantially incorrect, and errors do not involve re-interpretation
- material: impact of the amendments has a material effect on the funding allocations for which it is used
9. Once an amendment has been assessed, we will not consider substantively the same amendment again. HEPs will be informed of the decision and will have an opportunity to appeal within a short timescale.
10. Requests to make any amendments to data in the following returns must be submitted for review by a joint OfS and Research England data amendment panel:
- Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) Student Return
- HESA Staff Return
- Office for Students (OfS) Annual Financial Return (AFR)
To request an amendment to data in one of these returns:
- submit a completed error summary template, following the guidance for the joint process provided on the OfS website
- once a completed error summary template has been submitted, notify Research England by email to data_queries@re.ukri.org
11. Requests to make amendments to data in HESA Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) records must be submitted to the Research England data amendment process using the online form.
Other changes
12. If you believe that the allocations should change for any other reason, such as for mergers, email data_queries@re.ukri.org
Research England terms and conditions of funding
13. The terms and conditions of funding set out the formal relationship between UK Research and Innovation and the HEPs that it funds in relation to funds administered through Research England.
14. The terms and conditions applicable to funding provided to HEPs for the 2025 to 2026 academic year were published on 1 August 2025. The terms and conditions include those related to provision of data, and compliance with governance and data assurance requirements.
15. HEPs should read the terms and conditions in conjunction with this publication.
Section two: developments to funding methods for 2025 to 2026
16. The QR research degree programme (RDP) supervision fund allocations for 2025 to 2026 will be underpinned by the HESA 2023 to 2024 Student Record.
17. There are no changes to the funding methods for the other research funding streams described in this document.
18. Policy updates to the eligibility criteria for Research England’s knowledge exchange formula funding HEIF were implemented for the first time for 2025 to 2026 academic year funding.
19. A cap on the HEIF allocation for any HEP that has not received HEIF in the last year has been introduced at £500,000.
20. There are no further changes to the funding methods or parameters used in the knowledge exchange funding streams in 2025 to 2026.
Section three: grant data tables
21. There are up to six grant data tables published for each HEP, which show how funding for the HEP has been derived. They are described in detail in this document, but in summary:
- Table A provides summary details for QR and HEIF funding allocations (largely derived from the calculations on subsequent tables), and shows allocations for the Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund
- Table B shows the calculation of mainstream QR and London weighting on mainstream QR
- Table C shows the calculation of the QR charity support fund and QR business research element
- Table D shows the calculation of the QR RDP supervision fund
- Table E shows the HEIF allocations
- Table F shows the parameters used in the HEIF allocations
22. In this document, each row and column of the published grant data tables is described beneath a sub-heading in the order that they appear in the tables. Explanatory text references:
- the published HEP grant data tables 2025 to 2026
- the HESA HE-BCI and Student Returns
- data provided by Innovate UK
- the OfS AFR
23. Where any of the latter three sources are referred to, this is made clear in the text. Otherwise, references are to the published grant data tables.
Table A: summary of allocations
Summary of allocations
24. This section is a summary of the grant allocations shown in Tables B, C, D and E, alongside funding for national research libraries, and Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund. Where figures are not simply copied from the other tables, descriptions of the figures are given in paragraphs 25 and 26.
QR funding for National Research Libraries
25. This allocation, totalling £7 million, is for five libraries which were designated as being of national importance.
Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund
26. This allocation, totalling £14 million, provides support for museums, galleries and collections in the sector. It is provided to help them serve the wider research community, where this costs them significantly more than meeting the needs of their own researchers and students.
Table B: mainstream QR funds and London weighting
27. The table shows the breakdown of funds by Research Excellence Framework (REF) Unit of Assessment (UOA). Values in the table have been rounded for display purposes. The calculations are done to several decimal places, so there may be some rounding differences within the table.
28. A total of £1,265 million mainstream QR is being allocated for 2025 to 2026. London weighting on mainstream QR is calculated as 12% for inner London and 8% for outer London of the mainstream QR funds for each UOA. It totals £38 million for the sector.
29. This table is published exclusively as a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file.
30. The steps to determine the mainstream QR allocations are described in How we fund higher education providers.
UKPRN
31. This column shows the UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) of the HEP.
Provider
32. This column shows the name of the HEP.
Main Panel
33. This column shows the REF 2021 Main Panel to which each UOA belongs.
UOA and UOA name
34. UOAs are shown only where the quality profile has some activity at the three star or four star level. The multiple submission classification is shown where required.
Sub-profile
35. This column shows the sub-profile reflecting the three elements of outputs, impact and environment assessed in each submission.
Sub-profile percentages
36. These five columns show the sub-profile outcomes for each UOA. The percentages at each quality level match those published on the REF 2021 website.
37. Sub-profiles for submissions with fewer than three headcount staff submitted to the REF have been suppressed.
Volume
38. These five columns show the volume at each quality level to reflect the volume sub-profile for the UOA.
Total Funded volume
39. The sum of the volume associated with levels four star and three star only in the volume sub-profile.
Quality-weighted volume
40. These five columns show the quality-weighted volume (notional staff full-time equivalent (FTE)) at each quality level to reflect the quality sub-profile for the UOA. The quality weightings are shown in Table 1.
Total quality-weighted volume
41. This column shows the weighted sum of the quality-weighted volume columns. The quality weightings are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: mainstream QR quality weightings
| Quality rating | Abbreviated description | Funding weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Four star (4*) | World-leading | 4 |
| Three star (3*) | Internationally excellent | 1 |
| Two star (2*) | Recognised internationally | 0 |
| One star (1*) | Recognised nationally | 0 |
| Unclassified | Below the standard of nationally recognised work | 0 |
Mainstream QR funds (£)
42. For each UOA, this is calculated in proportion to each HEP’s share of the sector total quality-weighted volume.
London weighting on mainstream QR (£)
43. This is calculated as 12% for inner London and 8% for outer London of the mainstream QR funds (£) for each UOA.
Table C: QR charity support fund and QR business research element
44. This table shows the calculation of allocations of research funding for:
- QR charity support fund
- QR business research element
45. The QR charities and QR business allocations are calculated in proportion to research income in the most recent four-year period (AFR21 to AFR24).
QR charity support fund
46. A total of £219 million is being allocated for 2025 to 2026. This is allocated based on the average of income reported to the OfS AFR21 to AFR24.
Research income from charities (£)
47. This is the sum of the following figures from the four most recent OfS AFR (AFR21 to AFR24).
AFR Table 5 research grants and contracts. This is calculated as Total research grants and contracts (Head 4) minus Co-investment from external sources on Research England funded projects (included in rows 1 to 4 above) (Head 5) from the following sources:
- UK-based charities (open competitive process) (AFR Table 5 Column 2)
- EU-based charities (open competitive process) (AFR Table 5 Column 9, or Column 8 for AFR24 onwards)
- Non-EU (non-UK)- based charities (open competitive process) (AFR Table 5 Column 12, or Column 11 for AFR24 onwards)
AFR Table 6 against the heading Income for general research studentships from charities (open competitive process) (Head 4a).
Average annual income (£)
48. This is the average of the research income from charities from the most recent four-year period.
London-weighted research income (£)
49. This is Average annual income (£) multiplied by London weighting.
QR charity support fund (£)
50. This is London-weighted charities income (£) multiplied by the Rate.
London weighting
51. This is 1.12 for HEPs in inner London, 1.08 for those in outer London and 1.00 for other HEPs.
QR charity support rate
52. The rate of funding is approximately 18 pence per £1 of London-weighted charities income (£).
QR business research element
53. A total of £114 million is being allocated for 2025 to 2026. This is allocated based on the average of income reported to the OfS AFR21 to AFR24.
Research income from businesses (£)
54. This is the sum of the following figures from the OfS AFR from the most recent four-year period (AFR21 to AFR24).
AFR Table 5 research grants and contracts. This is calculated as Total research grants and contracts (Head 4) minus Co-investment from external sources on Research England funded projects (included in rows 1 to 4 above) (Head 5) from the following sources:
- UK industry, commerce and public corporations (AFR Table 5 Column 6, or Column 5 for AFR24 onwards)
- EU industry, commerce and public corporations (AFR Table 5 Column 10, or Column 9 for AFR24 onwards)
- Non-EU (non-UK) industry, commerce and public corporations (AFR Table 5 Column 13, or Column 12 for AFR24 onwards)
Average annual income (£)
55. This is the average of the research income from businesses from the most recent most recent four-year period.
QR business research element (£)
56. This is Average annual income (£) multiplied by the Rate.
QR business research element rate
57. The rate of funding is approximately 19 pence per £1 of Average annual income (£)
Table D: QR RDP supervision fund
58. QR RDP supervision funding is allocated only for those UOAs for which mainstream QR is provided. It is calculated to reflect:
- students eligible to pay home fees
- postgraduate researchers (PGR) FTEs
- quality
- London weighting
- the relative costs of the subjects
59. Figures in the table have been rounded for display purposes. The calculations are made to several decimal places, so there may be some rounding differences.
60. A total of £344 million QR RDP supervision funding is being allocated for 2025 to 2026.
61. Data that identifies HEPs participating in formal collaborative programmes for research training has been used to calculate QR RDP supervision funding since 2018 to 2019.
62. This table is published exclusively as a CSV file.
UKPRN
63. This column shows the UK Provider Reference Number (UKPRN) of the HEP.
Provider
64. This column shows the name of the HEP.
Main panel
65. This column shows the REF 2021 main panel to which each UOA belongs.
UOA and UOA name
66. UOAs are shown only where the quality profile has some activity at the three star or four star The multiple submission classification is shown where required.
UKPRN of collaborating provider
67. This column shows the UKPRN of the collaborating HEP for any UOA which is taught under a collaborative arrangement.
68. A separate row shows at UOA level for each collaborative arrangement identified on the 2023 to 2024 HESA student record.
Name of collaborating provider
69. This column shows the name of the collaborating HEP from the previous column.
Overall quality profile (%)
70. These five columns show the quality profile outcomes for each UOA. The percentages at each quality level match the overall profiles published on the REF 2021 website.
Quality score
71. A quality score is calculated for each department. This is based on the amount of three star and four star activity as a proportion of total activity at two star quality and above in the quality profiles.
Adjusted PGR FTEs
72. The eligible PGR FTE data we use is derived from 2023 to 2024 HESA student data. To be countable towards the eligible PGR FTE total, a student must meet all the following conditions:
- Research England fundable
- actively pursuing a PGR qualification
- not on an incoming exchange year
73. The eligible FTE for each UOA, multiple submission (where applicable) and HEP involved in a concurrent collaborative arrangement (where applicable) are adjusted to reflect that HEPs that were not eligible to submit to REF 2021 will not have a quality profile. The eligible FTE is therefore split only amongst HEPs that were eligible to submit to REF 2021. It is these adjusted FTEs that are used in the funding calculation.
74. Further details will be available in a funding summary which will be released separately.
Weighted adjusted PGR FTEs (London, cost and quality-weighted)
75. For each UOA this is the product of:
- adjusted PGR FTEs
- quality score
- a weighting of 1.12 for providers in inner London, 1.08 for those in outer London and 1.00 for all other providers
- the appropriate relative cost weight
Subject cost weighting
The subject cost weightings are:
- high-cost laboratory and clinical subjects, weighting 1.6
- intermediate-cost subjects, weighting 1.3
- others, weighting 1.0
QR RDP supervision funds (£)
76. This is determined by distributing the total QR RDP supervision fund to departments in proportion to weighted adjusted PGR FTEs (London, cost and quality-weighted).
Table E: HEIF allocations
77. This shows the calculation of HEIF allocations.
2021 to 2022 income (£)
78. These are the income figures as reported in the HESA HE-BCI record 2021 to 2022, OfS AFR 2022, or as supplied to us by Innovate UK.
2022 to 2023 income (£)
79. These are the income figures as reported in the HESA HE-BCI record 2022 to 2023, OfS AFR 2023, or as supplied to us by Innovate UK.
2023 to 2024 income (£)
80. These are the income figures as reported in the HESA HE-BCI record 2023 to 2024, OfS AFR 2024, or as supplied to us by Innovate UK.
HE-BCI survey
81. This shows the reported income, as reported to HESA on the relevant HE-BCI survey, identified as follows:
- income from contract research: Total value of contracts (HE-BCI Table 1, Head 2h)
- income from consultancy: Total income (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 1h)
- income from equipment and facilities: Total income (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 2h)
- income from regeneration: Total programmes (HE-BCI Table 3, Head 1f)
- income from intellectual property: Sub-total IP income (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3d)
- income from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the above categories
82. Income from SMEs in the above categories is the sum of the following figures:
- contract research (excluding any already returned in Head 1 and research councils), Total value with SMEs (HE-BCI Table 1, Head 2b)
- consultancy, Total value with SMEs (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 1b)
- facilities and equipment related services – organisations involved and income, Total value with SMEs (HE-BCI Table 2, Head 2b)
- IP income (including patents, copyright, design, registration and trade marks), Non-software licenses income, SMEs (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3a.i.)
- IP income (including patents, copyright, design, registration and trade marks), Software licenses income, SMEs (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3b.i.)
- IP income (including patents, copyright, design, registration and trade marks), Other IP income, SMEs (HE-BCI Table 4, Head 3c.i.)
Innovate UK: KTP income
83. This is the relevant value of Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) income, as reported to us by Innovate UK.
Income from NCB provision
84. This shows the reported income for non-credit bearing (NCB) course fees, as reported to the OfS on the AFR for the most recent three-year period (AFR22 to AFR24), identified as follows:
- analysis of income: Course fees and education contracts analysed by domicile, mode, level and source, Non-credit bearing course fees (AFR Table 6, Head 2)
Total per year
85. These are the relevant sums of the income figures in the previous eight rows.
Total weighted qualifying income
86. This is the sum of the following:
- 2021 to 2022 income (£) Total per year multiplied by 2
- 2022 to 2023 income (£) Total per year multiplied by 3
- 2023 to 2024 income (£) Total per year multiplied by 5
HEIF allocation
Main allocation (£)
87. This shows the total main allocation (subject to the parameters as shown in Table F).
Top-up allocation (£)
88. This is the amount of top-up allocated, distributed among the HEPs at the cap of main allocation, based on their shares of qualifying income, calculated according to the HEIF allocation method (subject to the parameters as shown on Table F).
Total allocation (£)
89. This is the sum of the main allocation and top-up allocation.
Table F: HEIF formula parameters
90. This table provides the parameters used in the HEIF formula for 2025 to 2026.
Total HEIF budget
91. This sets out the breakdown of total HEIF funds available.
Main allocation
92. This sets out the total amount to be allocated using the HEIF main allocation formula. For 2025 to 2026, this is £240 million.
Top-up allocation
93. The allocation is distributed among the HEPs at the cap of the main allocation, based on their shares of qualifying income (calculated according to the HEIF allocation method). For 2025 to 2026, this is £20 million.
Total HEIF budget
94. This is the sum of main allocation and the top-up allocation and totals £260 million for 2025 to 2026.
HEIF formula parameters
95. This sets out the parameters which apply to the main allocation and top-up allocation.
Main allocation: minimum allocation threshold
This is the minimum allocation which HEPs need to achieve through the formula to receive an allocation at all. For 2025 to 2026, the minimum allocation threshold is £250,000.
Main allocation: maximum allocation
This is the cap on individual HEP allocations, which sets the upper limit for total Main HEIF funds a HEP can receive. For 2025 to 2026, the maximum allocation is £4.67 million.
Main allocation: new entrant maximum allocation
This is the cap on individual HEP allocations, for new entrants to HEIF only. A new entrant is defined as any HEP which did not receive HEIF in the previous year. This sets the upper limit for the total Main HEIF funds those HEPs can receive. For 2025 to 2026, the new entrant maximum allocation is £500,000.
Yearly moderation factors
These are the factors by which year-on-year changes to allocations are moderated subject to the threshold and maximum. Meaning that no HEP’s main allocation has an increase of more than 10% or a decrease of more than 10% compared to their previous year’s main allocation.
Top-up allocation: minimum allocation
This is the minimum allocation eligible HEPs (those HEPs at the cap of main HEIF allocations) receive as a top-up allocation. For 2025 to 2026, the minimum top-up allocation is £200,000.
Top-up allocation: maximum allocation
This is the maximum allocation eligible HEPs (those HEPs at the cap of main HEIF allocations) can receive as a top-up allocation. For 2025 to 2026, the maximum top-up allocation is £1 million.
Explanation of abbreviations and terms
AFR
Annual Financial Return: the finance return collected by the Office for Students
Department
In relation to QR RDP supervision fund, ‘department’ means a group of staff and their research activity returned in a single submission within one subject UOA, irrespective of whether this forms a single administrative unit within the HEP
FTE
Full-time equivalent
HE-BCI
The HESA Higher Education – Business and Community Interaction return, used to inform knowledge exchange funding
HEIF
Higher Education Innovation Funding
HEP
Higher education provider
HESA
Higher Education Statistics Agency
KTP
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (income as reported to us by Innovate UK)
OfS
Office for Students
PGR
Postgraduate research
QR
Quality-related research (funds)
RDP
Research degree programme
REF
Research Excellence Framework. REF 2021 results
UKPRN
UKRI
UK Research and Innovation
UOA
Unit of assessment, used in the REF and research funding method