Carefully planning and managing finances is something that all universities do.
Our financial information is publicly available on an annual basis and all our students can access a summary of our annual financial reports on our webpages.
Financial information for the year 2023/24
Our total income in 2023/24 was £708.3 million. Our total expenditure of £521.1 million was £187.2 million lower than our total income generating a surplus.
Our expenditure has been significantly reduced by a one-off decrease in the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) pension provision following implementation of the 2023 actuarial valuation. This movement in pension provision does not impact our cash position so it is important to look at the surplus excluding these adjustments. Excluding non-cash pension adjustments, our underlying operating surplus for 2023/24 is £0.6m.
| 2023/24
£’m |
2022/23
£’m |
|
| Surplus | 187.2 | 10.3 |
| Non-cash pension adjustments | (186.6) | 0.5 |
| Underlying Operating Surplus | 0.6 | 10.8 |
Our underlying operating surplus has fallen in comparison to the previous year (2022/23 – £10.8m) as a result of a several external factors including:
- Erosion of the value of the home tuition fee (set by the UK Government for UK students), which has been capped at the same level (with one small rise in 2017) for 12 years – a real terms cut of around 30%. The recently announced rise in tuition fees to £9,535 which will come into operation from September 2025 will impact the next financial year (2025/26) and will be offset by the 2% rise in employer National Insurance contributions that came into effect from April 2025.
- Ongoing sector-wide challenges with recruiting new international students following UK immigration policy changes
- Cost inflation including pay, energy, capital costs and consumables
These are sector-wide issues and whilst Liverpool is in a stronger position than many, we are not immune to these challenges. Steps are being taken at an early stage to help secure the long-term financial sustainability of the University through strong cost controls, and also diversifying and increasing our income across our education, research and partnerships activity.
Our summary for students aims to show the sources of our income, as well as how we use that income to support our operations, pay our staff, provide financial support to students, keep the University running well and prepare for the future.
View pie charts and further information on our webpages.
Preparing for the future
The University of Liverpool is a ‘not for profit’ organisation which means that any annual operating surplus is reinvested in the University and we do not pay dividends to shareholders.
Generating surpluses in most years is an essential part of ensuring the financial health of our institution. Financial sustainability requires a position whereby the institution can cover operating costs but also generate resources for investment. Our longer-term strategy is to achieve an underlying operating surplus of 5% in order to enable continued investment in strategic priorities.
Read more about Liverpool 2031: Our strategic ambition.
At the end of each financial year any recorded surplus is added to our reserves which are used to fund investment that can’t be met from our normal recurrent sources of income.
This year the University has invested:
- £19.3 million in software and capital equipment
- £28.9 million in infrastructure programmes of work
- £6.4 million on the refurbishment and extension of the School of Architecture
- £2.6 million on Leahurst Campus lifecycle improvements and AVMA accreditation
- £2.4 million on Vets on Campus
- £10 million in additional smaller projects