Short courses and external work

1. Discuss with CPD Director and assess viability using market research and costing.
2. Complete costing template, Course Description and marketing form.
3. Completed costing to be sent to Centre Administrator for financial approval (3 working days)
4. Approved costing and Course Description and marketing form sent to Director to approve.
5. Approved course information sent to Course Administrator.
6. Course tutor and Course Administrator liaise to make the course arrangements.

Note: See section on ‘General aspects that will influence the organisational time required for courses’.

• How much preparation and contact time is required.
• What are minimum and maximum numbers of students?
• Will you require technical support on the day?
• Will you require certificates of attendance?
• Is tea/coffee required?
• Will the course require communication support? (interpreters, etc.)
• Venue cost must be included even if the DCAL Library is used. Consider if the DCAL library a suitable venue (see ‘Local Room Bookings’)

Link to costing template

When setting course fees you need to take into account the following aspects that will influence the fees charged

• Venue/room fees
• Tutor hourly rate/day rate. If you are teaching, include your salary scale point (and hourly rate inclusive of on-costs).
• Rates with on-costs (NI, Pension etc.): https://www.ucl.ac.uk/human-resources/pay-benefits/salary-scales
• IMPORTANT - Rates can change with annual increases and London allowance etc. so check the above link each time
• Tutor Travel and Accommodation
• Creating and printing of course certificates
• Photocopying/printing – course handbooks, hand-outs, flyers
• Catering costs
• DCAL staff costs – hourly rates (DCAL Course team time – Robert, Hannah, Manjula)
• Interpreting/communication costs – do not rely on using AtW funding.

Link to Marketing questionnaire and course content form

This is not an extensive list…

• Number of students
• Duration of course
• Number of tutors - 1 compared to 10
• Payments
• Advertising
• Queries from staff and students
• Certificates of attendance
• Setting up course on the UCL Online Shop (min 3 weeks)
• Setting up New Suppliers on MyFinance
• Accredited or not - Registering with awarding bodies
• Feedback forms
• International students - visas
• Venue booking
• Arranging communication support 

• Holds around 20 people comfortably
• If possible set up the evening before
• Tea, coffee and milk available to use with urn and milk jug.
• Weekend courses: Put a note on the door informing students when the door will be open e.g. 5mins before start. Tutor to keep portable doorbell on them in case of latecomers. Note: A member of DCAL staff must accompany external tutors during out-of-hours working.

• Is free for now but may have to pay in future – cost for venue must be included regardless.
• Open Monday – Sunday (24hours)
• Students must sign in and out on entering or leaving the building.
• A list of student’s names provided to reception at least 2 days before the course. If students are Deaf, enquire about the member of staff on duty and provide the receptionist with some basic Deaf Awareness and communication tactics.

Only open Monday – Friday

• Information for External Tutors. Note: DCAL course team to add fee information.
• Course evaluation form: <Template 1> <Template 2> – to be tailored to each course.
• Bespoke Courses Questionnaire – client making the request to complete.

For work carried out by DCAL staff.

Approval Process

• Send completed form to CPD Director for checking (see below).
• Form is then sent by CPD Director to Centre Administrator for financial approval.
• Once this has financial approval CPD Director sends form to DCAL Director for approval
• Once all approvals are obtained CPD Director sends form to Course Administrator to start the invoicing process.

Link to External Work Information Form

Note: The Director’s approval must be obtained before external work is confirmed with the client. Where travelling to and from the booking is International or requires significant time, these days/hours must be included in the costing. Travel and accommodation (where appropriate) must be included in the costing Invoicing for external work must take place before work is undertaken. MyFinance’s lengthy administration processes for raising sales invoices does not allow for last minute turnaround.  Therefore, the Course Administrator must receive the completed and approved form at least 4 weeks before the work is due to be undertaken.

Consultancy provides an alternate income stream to contribute to individual and institutional gain that aligns with the institutional mission as expressed in UCL2034. Consultancy can support the development and delivery of research as expressed in Impact Statements, deliver reputational enhancement, permit and support broader societal engagement, provide a vehicle for the development of broader networks with individuals and industry and express UCL’s engagement both in London and Internationally.

• For all the above reasons.
• Consultancy work can be a good development opportunity for staff.
• The income will help us support staff training and fund new activities.

• Academic staff have a right to conduct 40 days of paid consultancy work a year in addition to their existing responsibilities, though each project needs Institute/Divisional Director approval.  Such work can, of course, be done out of normal hours. 
• Researchers and administrative staff do not have a contractual right to perform paid consultancy - this is granted on a case by case basis.  Non-academic staff may work on consultancy projects within normal working hours and without additional remuneration, as long as the department recovers the full economic cost of their time within the project budget and it does not conflict with their other time commitments.  In cases where non-academic staff work on a consultancy project outside of normal working hours, the LC may, and is encouraged to, make provision in the project budget for payment of an honorarium. In cases of exceptional benefit to UCL, non-academic staff may be allowed to lead consultancy and take fees if it is deemed that the staff member is of sufficient seniority and/or experience to carry the responsibility of a consultancy project and will involve authorisation by Institute/Divisional Director and the Dean. 

• DCAL will treat all staff consultancy work as Project Consultancy* and so expect that all income comes to DCAL (aside from project costs and UCL Consultants fees).
• Permission to undertake a consultancy project must be given by the DCAL director before any further steps are taken.
• DCAL staff undertaking consultancy must seek guidance from UCL Consultants (UCLC) to ensure appropriate agreements are in place. However if  the fee is nominal (below £2,000) and the contract or commission is extremely simple with no risk associated, and there is no use of UCL brand, IP, resources or facilities, then the admin team can issue an invoice direct.  Please consult the DCAL administration before proceeding without UCLC.

This is consultancy which is initiated for the benefit of the core academic activity of the Institute/Division (in our case, DCAL), using UCL facilities, resources, IP or branding, which must be contracted for via UCLC and where the income is allocated to the Institute/Division (DCAL). Project consultancy activity is recognised in annual appraisals.

Information on other types of consultancy can be found in the ‘SLMS Framework and Guidelines on Consultancy’ (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/slms-intranet/enterprise)

1. See ‘Guidelines for Lead Consultants’ and ‘Guidelines for Staff Looking to Undertake Consultancy Work’ sections below.
2. Please provide the DCAL director and Centre Administrator with a brief written summary of the consultancy work to be undertaken, include information on the client requesting this service, your role (including time), the duration of the project, resources required (other staff time, equipment, etc) and other relevant information. If the Director approves, follow the next steps.
3. A copy of your summary will be sent to the PaLS Administrative Manager for approval.
4. You will be put in touch with UCLC who will work with you and the DCAL Centre Administrator and advise on setting up and managing your consultancy agreement.
5. All staff receiving fees from a project will have to complete an Income Waiver form so the income can be disbursed to a UCL account (this is effectively a Gift Aid agreement, allowing the money to be paid to a charitable institution, ie UCL).

Consultancy income will be paid in to a DCAL account and used for the benefit of all DCAL staff and students as well as to fund new activities. For example:

• Training
• Subsidise conference attendance
• Communication support costs not covered by Access to Work Scheme
• Purchasing equipment
• Support development of new short courses

The DCAL management team will consider requests for these funds on a case-by-case basis.

1. The Lead Consultant (LC) is the equivalent of the Principal Investigator (PI) in a research project and will be the first point of contact for UCLC on the project.  The LC is responsible for overall definition and delivery of the project’s technical, budgetary, communication and management aspects, and should bring in external resources as needed.  UCLC will normally manage all contractual and legal aspects, and invoicing/disbursements. Should the team have difficulty in delivering the project then UCLC, as contracting body to the client, has the responsibility to seek an alternative acceptable solution in coordination with the LC (where possible).
2. Consultancy work should be registered through UCLC. UCLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of UCL which gift aids any net surplus to UCL for enterprise activities.  UCLC provides a full service of opportunity identification, bid support, costing and pricing, contract negotiation, billing and collection and if required project management. Importantly, projects conducted through UCLC (with whom the client actually places a contract) will be covered under professional indemnity insurance, which means that no personal liability will attach to individual consultants in relation to any contractual dispute where the consultant has acted properly. UCLC charges typically 20% of the academic fees in order to provide this service, though this is lower for some types of consultancy, larger projects, or “follow-on business”. More information is available here: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/consultants/ucl-staff-info (normal UCL login and password required for the secure area).
3. The CM (or Contract Manager where no CM is in place) works with local administrative teams and support the development of consultancy project work. This ranges from the pre-contract phase of identifying projects, providing assistance in developing applications, providing a link between UCLC policy and local SLMS policy and liaising with the SLMS Enterprise Board. In addition, in the post-contract phase, the CM monitors project performance for overall reporting purposes and leads “lessons learned” evaluations.
4. Institute/Divisional managers provide support to UCLC in managing the throughput of consultancy administration and arranging associated finances.  All expenses and purchases related to a consultancy should be channelled via Finance/Admin and booked to the appropriate Project Task Award (PTA) code.
5. SLMS policy is that UCLC is always used for handling consultancy projects.  However if  the fee is nominal (below £2,000) and the contract or commission is extremely simple with no risk associated, and there is no use of UCL brand, IP, resources or facilities, then the admin team can issue an invoice direct. To take this route please contact the Institute/Divisional Manager in advance. As with all consultancy projects, appropriate overheads should be recovered as part of the Institute/Divisional contribution – this should be a minimum of FEC. 
6. The LC must understand that UCLC will only disburse fees to consultants and team members once the client has been invoiced and the payment received.  Thus, if any team member (especially students, or researchers close to the end of their contracts) will require payment sooner, this should be raised as an issue as early as possible to the CM/UCLC and Institute/Divisional Manager.
7. All team members must appreciate that personal fees can only be taken by staff that are registered with UCLC as Consultants (and UCLC will make these payments, which should be regarded as taxable and should be declared by the recipient); others will only be eligible for payments into UCL accounts. The UCLC Consultants registration form is available from the CM or from the UCLC website.

1. Academic staff have the right to conduct 40 days of paid consultancy work a year in addition to their existing responsibilities, though each project needs Institute/Divisional Director approval. Such work can, of course, be done out of normal hours. Researchers and administrative staff do not have a contractual right to perform paid consultancy - this is granted on a case by case basis. Non-academic staff may work on consultancy projects (led by an academic as the LC and arranged via UCL Consultants) within normal working hours and without additional remuneration, as long as the department recovers the full economic cost of their time within the project budget and it does not conflict with their other time commitments. In cases where non-academic staff work on a consultancy project outside of normal working hours, the LC may, and is encouraged to, make provision in the project budget for payment of an honorarium.   In cases of exceptional benefit to UCL, non-academic staff may be allowed to lead consultancy and take fees if it is deemed that the staff member is of sufficient seniority and/or experience to carry the responsibility of a consultancy project and will involve authorisation by Institute/Divisional Director and the Dean.
2. Project consultancy is subject to the same constraints on the number of days staff should work on them as personal and standard consulting work i.e. no more than 40 days without Dean’s approval.
3. Researchers are invited to engage and even lead on consultancy work but they must meet the requirements of the funding body supporting their contract. It is vital that funder obligations are fulfilled.  Any adjustment to the researcher’s time on the grant will be made prior to the start of consultancy work.
4. Professional Service staff costs funded by the Institute/Division should be recovered from the consultancy before any excess can be calculated.
5. Staff who engage in consultancy projects which contribute to the academic and financial performance of their Institute/Division should have this activity recognised in annual appraisals. Where consultancy is undertaken wholly for personal financial gain it will not be included in any evaluation.

Further information:

SLMS Consultancy Framework - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/slms/slms-intranet/enterprise