Update on financial sustainability survey

All of us are feeling the impact of the financial pressures in our institutions in different ways with an increasing worry about the longer term impacts on research capability in the UK. The recent TRAC return published by the Office of Students (OfS) shows research continued to show a substantial deficit, increased in 23/24 to approximately £5.4bn. The ARMA Task & Finish Group on Financial Sustainability repeated a survey of members in March 2025 (read the previous blog for the original results) to understand how different organisations are responding. A huge thanks to all who took the time to respond and provide valuable insights and comments.

What’s changed?

As many of us will be all too aware the scale and range of measures being taken to manage the financial situation has grown between our first survey in summer 2024 and spring 2025. Recruitment freezes and staff reductions are more prevalent across the sector and remain the most selected action in our survey (73% and 63% of respondents respectively). Stopping research or knowledge exchange in some areas is more prevalent (now 23% respondents from 18% in summer 24) and increasing numbers of us are exploring the use of AI tools for efficiency gains (34% respondents).

In our first survey many organisations were stopping internal funding schemes intended to stimulate research or impact activity, reviewing approaches to costing and overheads and seeking to shift the balance of funders to increase cost recovery. These actions remain but with increasing mention of ‘choosing not to bid for some funding opportunities’ (48% from 35% in summer 24) and restricting certain types of funding’ (41% from 29% in summer 24).

Terms and conditions matter

We asked respondents what type of funding applications are being restricted. Not all members are restricting applications but charitable funders (55%) and fellowships (32%) were the opportunities most mentioned. This will not be a surprise as institutions seek to cover a higher proportion of FEC but feedback was clear this is not just about cost recovery – it’s also about additional conditions or requirements which can tip the balance and make a bid difficult for an institution to support. As one respondent commented “… any funding schemes where there is an expectation of match-funding or an expectation of a permanent post being made available is a problem [in the current climate]’’

Cultural legacy

It’s not a surprise this context is having an impact on research culture and the experiences of our own professional services teams. The real impacts are still emerging but many respondents commented on the impact on morale and wellbeing, a focus on shortermism and less collegiality which makes efforts to improve research culture that much harder. A number commented on how their institutions are reviewing strategies and reducing the resource for learning and development. They mentioned the increased pressures on academics to undertake more teaching alongside their research and bid for grants. This, combined with resource constraints, is squeezing time for wider activities such as conferencing and knowledge exchange. Many also commented on their particular concerns for early career researchers who struggle more in this environment to get the support they need to build their academic networks and get on the grant ladder.

What next?

The results were recently shared at the recent ARMA Directors Forum where we discussed how the survey themes continue to resonate despite the rapid pace of change across the sector. ARMA members are in a unique position to see how financial pressures are affecting us, our teams and our researchers in real time and the results from both our surveys have already been useful to funders and government.

We are now working with Research England to organise some detailed focus groups to explore key issues in more depth. If you would like to join one – watch this space for more information.

Footnote: 86 members responded to the survey. 68% were in senior management roles (team managers, senior managers and Directors).

With thanks to the ARMA Task and Finish Group for their contributions to this work.