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For more information on our banding methodology, please see below.
If you have any further questions about our banding methodology, please contact our Helpdesk.
Jisc-banded pricing has proven a successful tool to negotiate differential pricing with publishers for many resources. As a result, many institutions can subscribe to content that would be unaffordable otherwise.
The Jisc banding for HEIs is based on the Total Relevant Income (TRI) the institution receives and as reported to, and by, the Higher Education Statistics Agency, and according to sector-wide accounting standards. These totals do not include the following relatively small incomes in certain categories:
The excluded categories have little or no impact on the use of electronic resources. The excluded categories on average amount to about 8% of an HEI's total income, though vary by institution. All data supporting this scheme is obtained from HESA's financial statistical reports.
The TRI also includes revenue relating to offshore students but does not distinguish between transnational education activity and international student recruitment.
The methodology for the 2019 HE Jisc bands supports our commitment to maintaining a transparent and equitable pricing model for our members. Total Revenue is also used to set HE Academic Affiliate members into a Jisc Band.
The current bands for HE came into effect on 1 August 2019, following a review in 2017.
We reviewed the banding using updated income figures for 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16 to calculate a TRI average for three years. We calculated an average to iron out distortions resulting from reliance on a single year's income.
Using the TRI, bands are determined by multipliers of band midpoints, starting with the midpoint of the lowest band, Band 10. We chose the multipliers to group similar institutions together and we recognise they may need to be examined in future to maintain an equitable pricing model. Band 5 is split into 5A and 5B to accomodate the large number of HEIs in this range.
The Band 10 midpoint was adjusted upward by the percentage growth in total university income since 2010/11, with consequent adjustment of other band limits. We did this to prevent institutions from migrating up through the bands as total sector income increases.
Institutions with revenue below the Band 10 lowpoint will be allocated into Band 10.
Band boundaries and ranges are provided below:
| Band | Midpoints multiple baseline | Lowpoint (£M) | Midpoint (£M) | Highpoint (£M) | Range |
| 1 | 84.5 | £792,532 | £1,125,527 | £1,458,522 | £665,990 |
| 2 | 47.9 | £483,510 | £638,021 | £792,531 | £309,020 |
| 3 | 30.3 | £323,673 | £403,591 | £483,509 | £159,836 |
| 4 | 21.5 | £249,081 | £286,377 | £323,672 | £74,591 |
| 5a | 14.2 | £129,203 | £189,142 | £249,080 | £119,877 |
| 5b | |||||
| 6 | 8.7 | £102,563 | £115,883 | £129,202 | £26,640 |
| 7 | 6 | £57,276 | £79,919 | £102,562 | £45,285 |
| 8 | 4 | £49,283 | £53,279 | £57,275 | £7,992 |
| 9 | 2.6 | £19,981 | £34,632 | £49,282 | £29,302 |
| 10 | 1 | £6,660 | £13,320 | £19,980 | £13,320 |
*5A/5B break is at the midpoint of "Band 5", i.e. £189,1421.
Banding Review
We undertook a review of the higher education (HE) Jisc bands in October 2024.
Any changes resulting from this review will take effect from August 2025, with renewals applying from January 2026. This means there will be no changes to an organisation’s band for the 2024/25 budget period. Higher education institutions have been contacted with details of the banding review.
The further education (FE) banding review is now underway. We will share further updates once it is complete.
The new HE banding levels will be published in January 2025.
The next banding review will take place in 2028 as per the review schedule agreed with our strategic groups.
However, we have also implemented a trigger point at which point we would review the banding sooner than the usual four years, should the financial challenges in HE and FE deepen, bringing further changes to TRI. If we reach the agreed percentage change, we will review the banding.
Pricing for most licence agreements is based on the relevant Jisc banding your college falls within. Banding is determined by Total Relevant Income (TRI)*.
*Includes income from Funding Body Grants, Tuition Fees and Education Contracts, and Other Grants and Contracts. Excludes Release of Capital Grants elements of those categories (income relevant to capital expenditure).
Different sources of financial reports are available for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland from devolved governments, which input into the banding for FE colleges across the UK.
The following bands for FE will come into effect on 1 August 2020, following a review in 2019.
The 2020 scheme uses the same officially published measure of college teaching and learning related income as that used by the previous scheme as the basis for band allocation. This Total Relevant Income (TRI) measure is averaged over the three academic years 2015/16 to 2017/18 to mitigate fluctuations.
To allocate each college to the appropriate band, the college TRIs are graphed in descending order and a simple smoothing function applied to lessen the distortion caused by very high and very low TRIs.
The resulting list of colleges is then allocated to one of the eight bands C to J by dividing the graph into eight sections such that each section contains the same total of college TRIs. Each college's band is then allocated according to the section of the graph their TRI lies in.
This gives a fair allocation of colleges to bands, that requires no manual intervention other than the choice of the initial smoothing function and that delivers a strong (90%) correlation between each college's TRI and its band.
Band boundaries and ranges determined by this methodology are provided below:
| Band | Min | Mid | Max |
| C | £59,051,000 | £82,605,000 | £165,799,000 |
| D | £46,611,000 | £52,326,000 | £59,050,000 |
| E | £39,971,000 | £42,991,000 | £46,610,000 |
| F | £35,211,000 | £37,043,000 | £39,970,000 |
| G | £26,021,000 | £29,940,000 | £35,210,000 |
| H | £19,681,000 | £23,078,000 | £26,020,000 |
| I | £9,921,000 | £13,823,000 | £19,680,000 |
| J | £382,000 | £7,298,000 | £9,920,000 |
Banding Review
The further education (FE) banding review is now underway. We will share further updates once it is complete.
The banding for Research Institutes that subscribe to Jisc Collections content licences is based on full-time equivalent (FTE) numbers of science and science-support staff at institutions that are part of, or closely linked to, a particular Research Council. Banding was developed in liaison with RESCOLINC, the Research Council Libraries and Information Consortium before the introduction of UKRI. FTE figures for 2018 have been supplied by RESCOLINC, based on (at least potentially) publicly available information.
Bands are allocated according to the figures below:
(UK research institute - Science & Support FTEs)
3 - 2,918+
4 - 2,060-2,917
5A - 1,551-2,059
5B - 1,125-1,550
6 - 819-1,124
7 - 565-818
8 - 389-564
9 - 221-388
10 - 0-220
The date for the next assessment of the research institutes' FTE figures is under discussion (February 2021).
TBC
Banding for these institutions is based on institutional income and follows our UK HE banding methodology.
Banding is based on staff headcount or full-person equivalent (FPE) relating to the number of staff eligible to use the online content. Bands are allocated based on the figures below:
(Number of relevant users - Band)
2,500+ - 4
900-2,499 - 5A
475-899 - 5B
250-474 - 6
150-249 - 7
75-149 - 8
40-74 - 9
Less than 40 - 10
Non-Academic Affiliate Members must order agreements via the online ordering and licence acceptance process. Participating institutions can view their orders in their Membership Account.