Introduction
This technical guide is aimed at those in planning and finance offices who need to have a good understanding of how Research England’s Policy Support Fund (PSF) grants are calculated.
For information about the strategic purpose of our funding refer to How we fund higher education providers (HEPs).
Common principles and definitions are provided in general notes for Research England technical guides.
Eligibility
Refer to the Research England terms and conditions for general eligibility conditions for our funding.
To be eligible for PSF, HEPs must also meet the following criteria:
- have submitted to the most recent REF exercise
- be receiving total QR funding above zero for the same funding year
Data used
The four most recent years of data from the following data are used to calculate PSF allocations.
OfS Annual Financial Return (AFR)
Table 5:
- Total research grants and contracts for UK central government bodies, local authorities, health and hospital authorities
- Co-investment from external sources for UK central government bodies, local authorities, health and hospital authorities
Calculation method
Step 1
For each of the four years of data going into the model, the eligible income is calculated by summing the total research grants and contracts minus the co-investment from other sources for the eligible income stream listed in the Data Used section.
Step 2
The average of each HEPs’ eligible income across four years of data is calculated. If a HEP is missing a year of AFR data, the average is taken over the three remaining years.
Step 3
The PSF budget is distributed to each HEP in proportion to their averaged eligible income calculated in step 2.
Step 4
The conditions specified in Summary of constraints are applied. Any surplus or deficit is redistributed only to HEPs not limited by the constraints in proportion to their averaged eligible income.
Step 5
Step 4 is repeated until the PSF budget is distributed.
Summary of constraints
The following constraints apply to PSF allocations:
- a minimum allocation of £50,000
- a maximum allocation of £1,000,000