The University has negotiated discount rates for staff and students to purchases some software packages for their own private use.
In particular these include some Microsoft packages (incl Windows and Office) as well as a number of other packages.
See this link for more details.
Note the following clarification on eligibility for staff:
Access to the OnTheHub site has nothing to do with staff numbers. The eligibility criteria for who is able to access the staff software offer is controlled by each user’s shibboleth profile. The user’s profile is dependent on whether he is classed by Human Resources as a full time equivalent (FTE). If the user is not than he is unable to purchase as a member of staff as determined by Microsoft.