Professional He Services

What Professional He Services does

Professional HE Services (PHES) is a UK not-for-profit company limited by guarantee that operates as the corporate parent of nine Higher Education sector Special Interest Organisations (SIOs): ACOP, AUDE, AULP, BUFDG, CUBO, CHEIA, HESPA, SCHOMS, and UHR. The company is wholly owned by its member higher education institutions and provides the shared legal, accounting, and governance framework within which each SIO operates autonomously. It consolidates subscription invoicing across all nine SIOs onto a single bill and delivers shared back-office functions including staff resources and a shared database and Content Management System that powers the websites of all nine organisations, reducing duplicated website build and maintenance costs.

The SIOs cover distinct HE professional communities: ACOP administers the legislated UUK/GuildHE Accommodation Code of Practice covering 262,000+ bed spaces across 141 member organisations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; BUFDG serves over 8,000 HE finance employees across 180+ organisations; CUBO supports 900+ campus and commercial services leaders in the UK and Ireland; UHR covers UK and Eire HR practitioners; AUDE, AULP, CHEIA, HESPA, and SCHOMS respectively cover estates, in-house legal, internal audit, strategic planning, and technology/media management communities. The 2025 refresh of the Accommodation Code of Practice took effect on 1 May 2025, reinforcing PHES's statutory position in student accommodation.

PHES generates revenue through recurring membership subscriptions paid by HE institutions, with nine SIOs invoiced on a single consolidated bill; it does not disclose pricing tiers or financials publicly. Go-to-market is sales-led and direct: prospective member institutions contact the Managing Director, Dominic Fryer (in role since 2014), via email to request membership forms. Marketing is limited to the PHES website (phes.ac.uk), email communications, and the events, conferences, and development days hosted by individual SIOs. The organisation operates from the Charnwood Building at Loughborough University's Holywell Park campus in the UK, with Ireland covered through specific SIOs.

Name

Professional He Services

Legal name

Professional HE Services Ltd

Website

https://phes.ac.uk

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Professional HE Services (PHES) is a UK not-for-profit umbrella organisation that provides shared legal, operational, and digital infrastructure to nine Higher Education sector Special Interest Organisations, serving UK and Irish HE institutions and their professional communities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Membership Services

NAICS

Management of Companies and Enterprises (55111)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic Affairs Administration (Curriculum, Scheduling, Academic Policy) (EDADAKAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) & Hard/Soft Services (EDAEAAAA)

Keywords

• Higher education membership
• Sector umbrella organization
• Shared legal framework
• University professional bodies
• HE sector associations

Headquarters

HQ city

Loughborough

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: PHES generates revenue through membership subscriptions from higher education institutions. The organisation is not-for-profit and owned entirely by its member HE institutions. Subscriptions from all nine organisations under the PHES umbrella are collected on the same invoice, providing efficiency savings.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

PHES is a not-for-profit umbrella company limited by guarantee that provides the shared legal framework, governance, and operational infrastructure for nine Higher Education Special Interest Organisations (SIOs). It centralises accounting, governance, staff resourcing, web infrastructure, and subscription collection while each SIO retains full operational autonomy to serve its professional community.

Product overview

PHES operates as an umbrella organization providing a shared legal framework for nine Higher Education sector Special Interest Organisations (SIOs). These member organizations each maintain complete autonomy while sharing staff and operational resources through PHES. The portfolio includes: ACOP (accommodation code of practice), AUDE (estates management), AULP (legal practitioners), BUFDG (finance professionals), CUBO (business/campus services), CHEIA (internal audit), HESPA (strategic planning), SCHOMS (technology/media services management), and UHR (human resources). Each SIO serves distinct professional communities within UK and Irish higher education institutions, offering networking, professional development, best practice sharing, and sector advocacy.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• ACOP (UUK/GuildHE Accommodation Code of Practice) The UUK/GuildHE Accommodation Code of Practice covers university owned/managed accommodation, legislated by Parliament to assure provision of high-quality residential experience for students. Covers 141 member organisations across over 262,000 bed spaces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• AUDE (Association of University Directors of Estates) Promotes excellence in the strategic planning, management, operation and development of Higher Education estates and facilities. Offers membership to publicly funded UK bodies whose primary remit is higher education teaching and/or research.
• AULP (Association of University Legal Practitioners) The association for in-house lawyers working in Higher Education. Members share knowledge and experience to tackle common challenges, help shape sector-wide responses to emerging issues, and provide peer-to-peer support for legal teams of all sizes.
• BUFDG The representative body for higher education finance staff in the UK. Provides professional services and support to member universities, working with over 8,000 HE employees in over 180 organisations. Entirely owned by member HE providers and operates as a not-for-profit organisation.
• CUBO (College & University Business Officers) The association for commercial and campus services professionals working in higher and further education institutions in UK and Ireland. Supports over 900 leaders and teams responsible for strategic development, management and operation of accommodation, catering, retail, sport, security, and other campus and commercial services.
• CHEIA (Council for Higher Education Internal Audit) The voice of internal audit in the Higher Education sector. Provides a network for members delivering internal audit services to universities, whether staff within in-house teams, consortia or external firms, for promulgation of best practice and professional development.
• HESPA (Higher Education Strategic Planners Association) The representative body for those working in strategy and planning in UK higher education. Provides an active forum for strategic planners to network, discuss, improve and influence, and supports professional development and career progression.
• SCHOMS The professional body for Senior Managers working within Higher Education. Leads and manages educational, technological, media and institutional development and support services. Promotes excellence in teaching and learning practices and their environments through evaluation of emerging technologies and innovative design of teaching spaces.
• UHR (Universities Human Resources) The professional organisation for Human Resources practitioners in United Kingdom and Eire universities. Organised into geographical areas with members meeting several times a year to exchange news and disseminate best practice. Works with associated bodies to offer co-ordinated responses to consultations.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AVIXAminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSCHOMS (one of the SIOs under PHES) has a partnership with AVIXA for training and certification opportunities for technical staff in audio-visual technologies within higher education institutions.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Jisc: Jisc is a UK not-for-profit providing shared digital, data, and technology infrastructure to universities and colleges, including shared platforms analogous to PHES's shared CMS and database. Both operate member-owned shared-service models serving the UK HE and FE sector.
• Advance HE: Advance HE provides leadership development, governance, and EDI services to UK and international HE institutions, with several PHES board members engaged in its programmes. Both are membership-driven bodies delivering professional development and sector support to UK universities.
• GuildHE: GuildHE represents smaller and specialist UK HE institutions and is the co-publisher of ACOP alongside UUK. It is a comparable mission-group membership body to PHES, sharing institutional membership and operating within the same UK HE sector governance landscape.
• Universities UK (UUK): UUK is the collective voice of UK universities and the co-publisher (with GuildHE) of the legislated Accommodation Code of Practice that PHES administers through ACOP. Both organisations serve as sector-level bodies representing UK HE institutions and operate membership-based governance structures.
• Independent Higher Education (IHE): IHE is the representative body for independent HE providers in the UK, comparable to PHES's role as an umbrella for sector-specific membership organisations. Both provide collective advocacy and shared services to HE institutions outside the mainstream Russell Group.

Emerging players

• Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI): HEPI is the UK's only independent HE think tank, frequently referenced by PHES-affiliated SIOs (e.g. AUDE, HESPA) in policy work. It is an adjacent ecosystem participant that influences the same UK HE policy environment PHES members operate within.
• Association of Colleges (AoC): AoC is the membership body for further education (FE) colleges in England, with significant overlap with PHES in serving UK tertiary education institutions (e.g. CUBO spans HE and FE). It represents a parallel sector-association model in an adjacent education segment.

Broad incumbents

• European University Association (EUA): The EUA represents over 850 universities across 49 countries and provides a broader geographic version of the institutional advocacy and policy representation that PHES-affiliated SIOs deliver in the UK. It illustrates the international scale PHES could in theory aspire to.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/phesacuk
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/professional-he-services-limited

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Professional He Services