Student Societies - Social Events Process
Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a publically funded & charity in its own right. SHU funds student societies within an agreed annual budget. Events with ticket sales should break even and where a surplus is made this should be utilised on other events ran by the societies.
1. Society leads or the events committee must discuss initial ideas with academic leads or the Employability Teamat least 12 weeks prior to the planned event. The meeting with the Academics or Employability Team should highlight ideas, the aim of the event, possible venues, suppliers, advertising strategy, timeline, costing and agree a plan to go forward with.
2. Society leads need to then meet with the Employability Team to complete a costing(Appendix 1 - costing template) for the event to take into account all expected costs of running the event and establish a ticket price suitable to recover the costs. The Society leads should also approach possible venues to obtain quotes and decide on a suitable venue for their event.
3. Please note that for society events, non-mandatory excursions (not required /related to passing course), day trips & outings are subject to VAT at standard rate of 20%. Income received for ticketed events will be net of VAT e.g. £100 ticket sold - income received net of VAT £80. This should be considered when costing events to determine ticket prices/ student contributions. Society leads can choose to incorporate 20% uplift in ticket prices to pass on the VAT charge or absorb the hit, but it is important to consider this in relation to the overall society budget for the year.
4. Society leads should be aware that the University policy on paying suppliers states that we pay all valid invoices (invoices quoting a valid purchase order number) 30 days from the date on the invoice document. This should be taken into consideration for the planning timeline and collection of ticket money. All ticket money must be collected 4 weeks in advance of the event in its entirety.
5. The Employability Team & Finance will verify any contracts needing to be signed for the event (e.g. contract for venue hire) It is also important that contacts are not signed by students but must be signed by the budget holder responsible for the societies (Sam Giove) All contracts will be verified and signed no later than 8 weeks prior to the event. If a contract is not required by the supplier we would ask that students obtain T&C's or cancellation policy to hold on file.
6. The Employability Team will support society leads with payment of any deposits for the venue by means of purchase card. They will also support with co-ordination of promotional materials and advertisement of the events.
7. Societies will take payments for events via the online store. This will be the only way payments can be taken for events that cost the student money. The store can be found at: how do I request a product or service? (Employability team)
•Please complete the on line store proforma
•Forward your completed proforma to
•The Cash Receipts Team will load the product or services onto the Online Store for you
•You will receive an email from the Cash Receipts Team with a link to your product or service to enable you to check and confirm that everything is correct
8. Employability team will support the society leads in raising a purchase order (PO) for the balance payments of venues etc. Please be conscious of payment terms (30 days from the date on invoice) when raising the PO so that suppliers are paid in a timely fashion and the event is not jeopardised.
9. For security reasons students and staff are not permitted to collect large amounts of money on or off campus. Sums in excess of £25 are not to be held within faculties/directorates overnight or at weekends. It is a manager's responsibility to ensure that any of their staff involved in cash handling are appropriately trained and that the University's financial regulations are adhered to.
10. Any other paid suppliers such as a band, photographer for the event need to be arranged through the Employability Team. If they are a registered supplier a PO can be raised and invoice requested. If they are not a registered supplier a payment out request form (Appendix 2) must be completed and authorised by the budget holder (Sam Giove). The Employability Team must confirm there is the correct amount of finances in the account to cover the costs and should have been included in the original costing. If they are self-employed they need to complete an employment status questionnaire provided by Finance.
11. Purchases made by students using their own funds and require reimbursement must complete an external expenses form (Appendix 3) and get authorisation from the budget holder. Please ensure that all receipts are retained to support the expense claim. Claims that do not have supporting receipts will not be paid.
12. Donations to charities are subject to circumstance. If students wish to have raffles or collection tins at their events to raise money for charity this is to be organised by the student by liaising with the nominated charity. This money should not be paid into SHU's bank account and will not be accepted by cashiers. However, if a surplus is generated by the ticket sales income being greater than the cost of the event this could be donated to a nominated charity. This would need to be discussed with the Employability Team and Finance in advance of making any donation.
Summary of Process
Please refer to Appendix 4 for an example of the timeline used for planning the last end of year ball to give insight into the planning process.
Appendix 1 - Basic Costing template
Costing to be completed with Employability Team to establish the selling price for tickets to breakeven
Appendix 2 - Payment out
Payment out request form can be obtained by contacting the Employability Team
Appendix 3- Expense claim
External expense claim form can be obtained by contacting the Employability Team. Please ensure that you submit your claim for reimbursement of expenses with all relevant receipts in a timely fashion to be processed for payment.
Appendix 4 - Example Timeline - End of year ball