SU Finances

Where does the money come from?

Our money comes from a couple of different places. We get given a grant from the University, and make a surplus on our commercial outlets (The Store, SU bar etc.)

Some of our services operate at a loss, like the Post Office, because we know that they are very important things for students to have.

The money we receive goes into services for students like Sports clubs, societies, volunteering, and SU Advice to name a few. In total we get:

• £1,680,000 as a grant from the University
• £962,000 in surplus from our commercial outlets

What does it cost to run the SU?

We break our costs into two sections. It costs £2,590,000 for SU Advice, sports clubs, societies, volunteering, campaigns, events, heating and water bills, and paying all of our staff (including elected student officers). This figure also includes £705,000 for paying student staff wages.

It costs £4.4 million to run our commercial outlets, including buying stock and making sure everything runs smoothly.

How do you set your prices?

To fund all the good stuff that the SU runs for our members we have to make sure our commerical outlets are making a gross profit. We need to pay for things like staff, insurance, credit card charges and all of our other overheads. Products that have a large profit margin help us to keep the price down of the things that don't. We are constantly checking that our products are working as hard as they can to help fund great work. We could decrease our prices by employing more permanent staff. With permanent staff there are no shift changeovers which means it would be more efficient. But we promised you an amazing degree and job and part of that help is work experience.

BREAKDOWN OF A PINT

Selling Price: £3.20

VAT: £0.54

Cost of Beer: £1.10

Contribution back to SU: £0.23

Other costs (Staff, sundries etc.): £1.33

Sundries include - Sky tv, cleaning materials, glassware, entertainment, posters and printing, licences.

IF YOU'RE A CHARITY WHY ARE YOU MAKING A £50,000 PROFIT?

We have to have enough cash in our accounts to be able to pay our creditors. Businesses can go under if they run out of cash. An organisation can make a profit, but not have any cash (costs can spread over many years). Until now, we have had a cash shortfall. In the past, the University has paid our block grant a little early to ensure we do not run out. We need to make sure that if trade drops a bit, we can carry on paying our suppliers. Also, we are legally required to have some cash reserves.

What's your gender pay gap?

You can find our full report here.