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Voluntary Resignation Scheme FAQs

 

 

Were the trade unions consulted over this scheme?

  1. No. The unions were told about the scheme when it was announced. Union reps were not given any advance details of the scheme, so these FAQs have had to be written after its launch, and some of the answers to these FAQs may be refined in the light of further clarification from Human Resources.
  2. We have also not been consulted over the broader rationale for making post reductions, which we believe are cuts of choice, not necessity. 
  3. A voluntary resignation scheme is not benign and cost free: some staff may genuinely not wish to leave but feel obliged to apply, and other staff may be allocated their workload without consent. Moreover, university managements have a tendency to move from voluntary severance to compulsory redundancy.
  4. In a context where UCL currently has a record number of students to teach, a severance scheme focusing on ‘disposable’ posts looks increasingly to be a form of ad hoc restructuring to the market that is contrary to the academic ethos of UCL.

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How do I put myself forward without over-committing myself?

The policy states ‘once an application is submitted this will normally be on the understanding that if it is approved, the employee will be leaving’. So you need to be sure that you would leave if you apply.

UCL has said that you may consult your line manager informally about applying. They won't be able to commit either way, and they are not 'decision makers', but they can at least discuss how a handover might be handled were you to leave.

You should think about the following ahead of any application:

  1. Do your homework. Work out what the payment would be for you and check your eligibility according to UCL’s criteria. There is probably no point in applying if you are exempt!
  2. If the payment is over £30,000, consider the impact of taxation on your personal circumstances. If the payment is made to you before April 5 2023, it will be taxed in the 2022-23 tax year, but if it is paid after that date it may be to your benefit. 
  3. Ask your union rep for advice, even if it is just to run through the figures with you. The union can help you explore options with managers without formally committing to an application.
  4. If you would be resigning with no job to go to and no pension, be aware that the money can be spent quite quickly! Staff who tend to financially benefit from these schemes are either
    1. staff who were planning to retire anyway, or
    2. staff who can take up another post elsewhere. 
  5. Staff can speak to their managers informally if they are interested, but they may wish to seek advice from the union first.

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Why is UCL saying that this is a ‘resignation’ not ‘redundancy’ scheme? What is the difference in practice?

  1. The main difference outside of UCL is that the reasons given for exiting the employer will be registered as ‘resignation’ (the employee opted to quit) rather than ‘redundancy’ (the employee was made redundant by the employer.
  2. The implications for staff mainly concern
    1. access to state benefits (Universal Credit), but where a large payment is made access to state benefits may be limited anyway
    2. rights to claim financial assistance for redundancy in mortgage insurance
  3. If staff think that their post may be made redundant in the medium term but would rather not leave UCL, then they should not apply.
  4. If staff are already in a redundancy process then UCL must follow that process properly. No ‘settlement agreement’ process would be required for the redundancy payment (and any notice) to be paid. In these cases it may be possible to negotiate some improved benefits ruled out in MARS, including payment in lieu of notice and to take untaken annual leave as a lump sum. Staff made redundant are eligible to apply for posts through redeployment, may appeal their redundancy and challenge their dismissal at an employment tribunal. There is no 2 year bar on return to UCL.

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Are staff making themselves vulnerable if they apply? If staff apply for MARS and are declined, could they be targeted by redundancy further down the line and where would UCL stand from a legal point of view if they did this?

  1. Your first approach to UCL would likely be through an informal chat with your line manager. 
  2. UCL say they will turn down applications for MARS on several grounds, including that they think this post will not be made redundant at the current time. In theory, that post might become at risk later on. However, for staff with five full years of service or more, MARS pays no better than the contractual redundancy pay scheme (Enhanced Redundancy Pay). So you would not be worse off. See below. 
  3. UCL says that the process is carried out ‘without prejudice’, which means that they say that they would not discriminate against you in the future. 
  4. If there is evidence of unfair selection for redundancy in a redundancy process, then you would need to demonstrate that at the time - and the fact that one had applied to the scheme would potentially be admissible.
  5. As well as it being inappropriate to identify you for redundancy because you had previously applied, a manager should also not rule your post out for redundancy because you had applied.

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Legal advice. Do you know of a good law firm that could advise members about the settlement document and £500 of advice mentioned?

  1. UCU can arrange independent legal advice via a national chain of solicitors. Alternatively staff can approach another of their choice. 
  2. Before handing over, a union rep can review the settlement agreement. Key issues that may be up for negotiation prior to seeking legal advice may include
    1. if a temporary return to continue duties is requested
    2. resolving intellectual property issues
    3. the end date of contract

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Why do payments exceed 40? Why does the table of figures show amounts for more than 40 weeks (i.e. 2x the statutory max 20 of years)? Is this the enhanced offer?

  1. This is due to the years performed for the employer where their age is over 40. For each of these years, the multiplier is 1.5 weeks.
  2. The formula is in section 25.

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Enhanced Redundancy Pay scheme. How does this scheme differ from the UCL ERP scheme (the amounts payable when staff are made redundant)?

  1. The MARS scheme is modelled very closely on the ERP scheme. The ERP scheme has this structure:
    1. 0 to 1 full years (rounding down) = £0 (statutory redundancy)
    2. 2 to 4 full years = statutory redundancy pay capped at £571/week
    3. 5 to 9 full years = statutory redundancy pay uncapped (actual weeks)
    4. 10 to 20 years = 2x statutory redundancy pay uncapped
  2. The MARS scheme has this structure:
    1. 0 to 1 full years (rounding down) = 4 weeks pay
    2. 2 to 9 full years = statutory redundancy pay uncapped
    3. 10 to 20 full years = 2x statutory redundancy pay uncapped 
    4. up to a limit of £95,000.
  3. This means that for staff with less than 5 years’ full service, MARS is likely to pay more (for staff with less than 2 years service, where ERP pays £0, there is an obvious incentive). However, staff who have no source of income following them leaving UCL will rapidly spend that money!

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Retirement. If I have already informally told my line manager that I would like to retire, am I eligible to apply to the scheme?

  1. Saying that you would like to retire is not the same as applying for retirement or resigning. People may well plan to retire in the future. So you would be eligible.
    1. However, it is also true that UCL may turn you down, thinking that you intend to retire and so will not have to make a payment.
    2. Ultimately, UCL reserves the right to choose whose application they accept or do not accept. But you can also change your mind if it is not financially viable for you to retire without such a payment!
    3. One can see that if there are a small number of applications compared to the target, UCL is more likely to agree to pay staff in this category.
  2. If you have tendered your resignation in order to retire, unfortunately you will be too late.

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Is the scheme ‘equality-proofed’? How do we know that the scheme will not be applied in a discriminatory manner?

  1. No, it is not equality-proofed. The scheme may be indirectly discriminatory in its application. For example, staff on research contracts are excluded because they are not ‘core funded’. We know that this group of staff contains a higher proportion of women:men and overseas:UK staff than, say, lecturers. However, even though this criterion may have a discriminatory effect, this may be lawful provided that the employer can show that there are objective reasons for this criterion.
  2. Direct discrimination in schemes of this kind is still unlawful, so if the criteria for acceptance were applied in a discriminatory way, UCL could be liable. Suppose two people applied and both were equally eligible under the scheme’s rules, and one was turned down. The person who was turned down might allege that the reason they were turned down was related to their possession of a protected characteristic, such as age or disability.

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Seeking alternative employment. If someone applied for this scheme, at what point can they start looking for another job and accept another job offer (and still get the payment from UCL)?

  1. UCL does not wish to pay compensation for staff who are resigning to get another job anyway. But staff who are leaving under the scheme cannot afford to wait around in a recession. So there are bound to be cases where there may be some overlap. 
  2. The scheme states that to be eligible you must not have accepted another job (paragraph 6). But you could be looking for one.
  3. In order to commence work with a new employer you will clearly need to know when to start. So it is important to note that you will also be expected to agree an end date with UCL (13). It is possible to negotiate an earlier end date than the end of notice (16).

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When does the notice period start?

  1. According to UCL’s flowchart, notice would be treated as running from shortly after the applicant was told their application was successful in February. They will be given 3 days to confirm. Although it would not start earlier, one may negotiate not to serve the full notice (paragraph 16).
  2. It is also possible to negotiate a longer contract and a later leave date, and UCL may ask for this as a condition of acceptance.

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Does notice count towards service?

Yes. 

Like redundancy, the scheme should pay out based on the agreed end date, because it is based on the total continuous service.

  1. For example, if a staff member began employment at UCL on 1 March 2020, and were served notice on 3 February 2023 (with no extension), they would have 3 full years once they had worked their service (even if they were on G6 and below, where a 4 week notice applies).
  2. If staff resigned on 31 July 2023, giving 3 months notice, would they get an extra year’s payment if their contract originally started on 1 Sept? Assuming the end date were agreed, then the answer would be yes. 

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Fixed-term/open ended staff. Is there any way that staff on fixed term contracts can use the scheme in any capacity? I have worked on rolling fixed-term contracts at UCL since December 2004 and to be excluded after 18 years of service feels unfair and discriminatory.

This is the type of question you should explore with your union rep. Three bullet points in paragraph 6 potentially could exclude you.

  1. Most researchers will be on ‘open-ended contracts with end dates’ which UCL says are not fixed-term contracts, so bullet point 1 should not apply. Being a named researcher on a grant may be a barrier.
  2. The bigger problem is the external vs. core-funded distinction. Most researchers’ posts will be primarily funded by external funds.

UCL may be prepared to accept the application on an exceptional basis.  

  1. Exclusion from a right offered to others (including a non-contractual right such as the right to apply to this scheme) would be a form of Less Favourable Treatment under s3 of the Fixed Term Employees Regulations 2002. However UCL will argue that this exclusion is objectively justified.
  2. Long-term retention on successive fixed term contracts without objective grounds is also a breach of the same Regulations (Regulation 8). UCL attempts to circumnavigate this by asserting that the contract is ‘open ended with an end date’, so the Regulation does not apply. However, Regulation 1, defining a fixed term contract, says that a fixed term contract is any contract that would normally end following the elapsing of a finite period of time.

It is worth noting that this scheme pays more than ordinary UCL enhanced redundancy pay only for those with less than 5 years’ service. And if a fixed term or open ended contract term ends, then this is a redundancy for which enhanced redundancy is payable. 

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Will I be eligible, given that a large proportion (I would estimate about 70%) of my’ service has been funded by external grants, not core funding? 

The eligibility criteria set out in the document are based on your current contract, not previous contracts you may have had in your total service with UCL.

So if you are currently in a core funded post, you would be eligible. Some staff may be part-funded by research grants (including grants they secured themselves), but their substantive post is core-funded, in which case they would also be eligible.

Staff with substantive core-funded posts should be eligible if on a secondment (Appendix 1 para 9).

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What happens if my application is unsuccessful? 

The scheme is voluntary on both sides, and we can't really say in advance whether or not a refusal is reasonable or not - or even if it were unreasonable, that you would have rights of redress.

You might not be granted it for the reasons set out in the scheme; which are essentially operational efficiency delivering ongoing service, and there is no automatic right to appeal or complain about it.

In the event that your application is unsuccessful, you will need to discuss it with your local Departmental Rep who will have the best grasp of local operational issues.

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