Reports
Sector returns
Sector return builders
Pure-logic builders for the regulator and sector-body returns UK higher education institutions submit alongside HESA Data Futures. Every builder consumes canonical entities and emits a CSV + tamper-evident SHA-256 manifest, ready for the operator to upload to the corresponding provider portal.
How sector return builders work
What this is
Each builder is a dependency-free TypeScript package: canonical rows go in, a CSV plus a manifest with per-row SHA-256 comes out. The portal upload itself is an operator step — no return builder ships a network surface.
How to use
- 1.Pick a return; review its cycle, cadence, column count and audit-rule coverage below.
- 2.Generate the CSV from canonical entities — the builder suppresses any row missing a required field, surfacing the omission as a warning.
- 3.Run the audit rules on the emitted rows; address ERRORs before submission, review WARNs.
- 4.Build the portal bundle (CSV + manifest); the manifest's csvSha256 and per-row sha256 prove what bytes the institution uploaded.
OfS
ProductionTEF Teaching Excellence Framework
Office for Students — cadence: three to four years.
- Current cycle
- TEF_2026
- Columns
- 14
- Audit rules
- 18
- Manifest
- SHA-256
@databridge/tef-return-builder
RE
ProductionKEF Knowledge Exchange Framework
Research England — cadence: annual.
- Current cycle
- KEF_2026
- Columns
- 13
- Audit rules
- 14
- Manifest
- SHA-256
@databridge/kef-return-builder
UCAS
ProductionUCAS-HEI UCAS HEI return
Universities and Colleges Admissions Service — cadence: annual (post-confirmation).
- Current cycle
- 2026 cycle
- Columns
- 16
- Audit rules
- 8
- Manifest
- SHA-256
@databridge/ucas-hei-return-builder
SLC
ProductionSLC-SBR SLC Student Borrower Return
Student Loans Company — cadence: termly + annual close.
- Current cycle
- 2025-26
- Columns
- 11
- Audit rules
- 15
- Manifest
- SHA-256
@databridge/slc-sbr-return-builder
Next on the roadmap
REF (Research Excellence Framework, five-yearly) is the remaining P2.18 return — the cycle window opens after the 2029 framework guidance is published.