Guidance for the Completion of Form 3 - UCL Lecturers (Teaching) Appointment

This guidance should be read in conjunction with the UCL Lecturers (Teaching) Scheme guidelines which can be found within the Recruitment and Selection Policy.

Generic Principles of Appointments

All UCL appointments irrespective of duration must be seen to follow the Recruitment and Selection Policy. It is important that everyone apprises themselves of the Provost’s position on recruiting staff - Recruitment and Selection Policy. When employing temporary or casual staff on a short-term basis the principles of good practice outlined in the policy should be followed.

Appointment Form Submission

Contracts of employment are drawn up by HR upon receipt of fully authorised appointment forms. Forms should be submitted immediately after a job offer has been verbally made and accepted and satisfactory references received. Forms should not be held back until payroll deadlines as this is likely to result in new starters receiving their contract of employment after their start date.

HERA reference

A generic job evaluation has already been completed for all UCL Lecturers (Teaching) appointments. Job descriptions should be consistent with the guidance. 

Mandatory Fields

All fields must be completed where applicable. UK National Insurance numbers should be provided where these have already been allocated to the employee.

Date Fields

For users completing forms electronically dates should be entered in a DD MM YY format. For example 23 09 04 this will display as 23-Sep-04.

UK National Insurance Number also called NI Number

This is an important identifier which every employee has a legal obligation to provide. Non UK citizens will need to apply for an NI number. More detailed guidance is available via the Inland Revenue web site.

Home Address and Telephone Number

The employee’s home address or contact address must be entered. ‘Care of the department’ must not be used unless the individual is actually domiciled on the department’s premises. The Home Address has important legal status and is used to send on statutory documents like the P45 which cannot be re-printed if lost.

UCL staff can update their home address and telephone number by writing to their departmental general HR contact with the new details and specifying an effective date.

Department Sub-Unit

Some departments have established formal sub-units which appear on the HR hierarchy. These departments should assign new staff to a sub-unit.

Payroll Location

To be used if the employee’s payslip is to be sent to an address other that of the normal departmental location.

Appointments

Some UCL Lecturers (Teaching) have multiple appointments teaching on several courses / programmes. In some instances it is possible to consolidate this teaching effort into a single coherent appointment (e.g. 20% FTE statistics teaching to students on several master’s programmes from 1st November to 15th December).

However, in other instances variations in duration, working hours and teaching pattern may result in the need for more than one appointment form to be completed.

Appointment Type

Select either fixed term contract, open ended or continuous contract. Fixed term contracts should be used for one-off, non-recurring, appointments which are normally less than nine months in duration. The exception is the appointment of staff to cover maternity leave, sickness absence, sabbaticals and unpaid leave where the duration can be extended to coincide with the period of absence of an individual who is entitled to return to their post. Fixed term contracts will be mainly used to provide cover (e.g. sabbaticals, leave of absence, maternity, vacancies) or for short term appointments to undertake a specific one-off task.

Open Ended contracts with grant / project end dates can only be used where the posts is appointed on research grant and contract funding or other external project funding.

Continuous contracts should be used for employees who have recurring teaching appointments, year on year, irrespective of whether there are seasonal unpaid periods in between (e.g. working 1st October to 31st May each year).

Reason for Fixed Term Appointment (use notes field)

Please specify why a fixed term contract is being used. Common reasons are (a) Maternity cover (b) Cover for sabbatical leave (c) Cover for leave of absence (d) Cover for vacancy (e) Cover for sicknesses absence or (f) Undertaking a specific one-off task.

Start Date and End Dates

The start date is the employees start contract of employment. In case of employee’s on continuous seasonal contract this may not coincide with the start of their seasonal working pattern (e.g. UCL Lecturers (Teaching) may commence work on 1st Jan 06 with a recurrent teaching pattern of 31st Oct to 30th April each year). 

An end date should be assigned to those UCL Lecturers (Teaching) employed on fixed term contracts.

In the case of fixed term and open ended appointments the end date will trigger a request to follow the UCL’s dismissal procedure for staff on fixed term and open ended appointments.

Seasonal Work Pattern

A start and finish period should be inserted for UCL Lecturers (Teaching) employed on continuous appointments (e.g. Start 31st October and Finish 30th April each year).

Grade

This is used to distinguish between UCL Lecturers (Teaching) appointed on the non-clinical academic salary scale and clinical academic salary scales.

Salary

This should be the full-time annual salary relevant to the grade and scale point, irrespective of duration of employment or the FTE. Please see Non Clinical Salary Scales for current information.

Point

The point on the salary scale that the employee is to be paid will be determined by factors such as previous teaching experience, qualifications, knowledge and responsibilities.

London Allowance (LA)

Select the LA appropriate to the grade and the work location of the post holder. A full-time London weighting Allowance should be inserted irrespective of duration of employment or the FTE. LA’s for salary scales can be found on the Non Clinical Salary Scales page.

Gross Pay of Employee (Actual Salary)

The gross pay of the employee can be calculated from the full time salary pro rata to the FTE for the duration of their paid appointment. For example a UCL Lecturer (Teaching) employed on a salary of £30,000 per annum, with an FTE of 50%, working 1st October to 31st March (6 months) will receive gross pay of £7,500 for the period (£30,000 p.a. x 50% divided by 12 months x 6 months).

Note: The above calculation works if the paid employment starts on the 1st of the month and finishes at the end of the month, otherwise monthly pay will be adjusted for actual working patterns and the number of actual working days in the start month and finish month. 

Calculating Working Hours and FTE’s

UCL Lecturers (Teaching) are remunerated based on their contractual hours, which are expressed as an FTE over a defined period linked to a salary scale (see: section on Gross Pay of Employee below for example)

The full-time salary of UCL Lecturers (Teaching) is based on 36.5 hours per week for non-clinical staff and 40 hours for clinical staff (CCA/SAGP only). A person working full-time hours has an FTE of 100%. A person working half of the available hours of a full-time post has an FTE of 50% and so on. It is calculated as “hours to be worked, divided by the full time hours for the post”. Therefore, a UCL Lecturer (Teaching) (non-clinical) working 18.25 hours per week will have an FTE of 50% (18.25 / 36.5 hrs).

Departments will need to calculate the number of working hours required per week, per month or for such part of the teaching year. Working hours should be determined with reference to norms for comparable teaching loads supported by other members of staff within the department. Working hours should include both contact teaching hours (e.g. classes, seminars and lecturers) and an appropriate provision for course preparation, assessment and marking.

It is a relatively simple task to express the working hours per week for UCL Lecturers (Teaching) with a regular pattern of employment (e.g. teaching 3.65 hours every Tuesday afternoon for a continuous period = FTE 10%). However, UCL Lecturers (Teaching) with an irregular, albeit pre-determined, pattern of employment (e.g. teaching to a prescribed timetable) will need to have their pay based on the average hours worked per week over a defined period. Appendix 1 has a number of examples demonstrating how average weekly hours should be calculated in these circumstances.

When calculating hours and FTE’s departments will need to ensure that employees will be in receipt of paid annual leave entitlement. Further guidance is provided below.

Annual Leave

UCL Lecturers (Teaching) accrue a full-time equivalent annual leave entitlement of 27 days paid leave per annum, pro rata to their duration of employment and FTE. The entitlement is for time off during paid employment not to pay in lieu. However, those employees who have not used any part of their pro rata accrued annual leave entitlement will receive payment in lieu upon termination.

Some departments employ UCL Lecturers (Teaching) for significant FTE’s covering the majority or all of the year. In these situations their contractual hours and patterns of teaching are likely to be sufficient to enable their annual leave entitlement to be taken during their prescribed period of paid employment.

In other cases, UCL Lecturers (Teaching) are employed for relatively small FTE’s. In these situations it is more likely that the employee will not be able to take their paid annual leave entitlement during prescribed teaching times. Therefore, Lecturers (Teaching) contractual hours will need to include a provision to enable them to receive paid annual leave entitlement. A standard uplift in working hours of circa 11.55% (5.4 weeks out of 46.74 weeks = 11.55%) will enable paid annual leave entitlements to be taken if this cannot be accommodated during the prescribed working hours. 

Examples for calculating annual leave entitlements are provided in appendix 3.

Payment over 12 months and Restated FTE

UCL’s policy is that Lecturers (Teaching) on continuous seasonal contracts who work for 9 months or more in each academic year will be paid continuously over 12 months. UCL Lecturers (Teaching) on continuous seasonal contracts working for less than 9 months can also elect to be paid continuously over 12 months. In these circumstances the employee’s FTE needs to be modified to take account of the extended period of pay over 12 months. 

When an employee is working for part of the year, but is to be paid over 12 months it is necessary to modify the FTE and calculate a Restated FTE.

Example: A UCL Lecturer (Teaching) employed on a salary of £30,000 per annum, with an FTE of 50%, working 1st October to 30th June (9 months) will receive gross pay of £11,250 (£30,000 p.a. x 50% divided by 12 months x 9 months). If this was paid over 9 months the employee would receive £1,250 per month.

However, pay the same sum over a 12 month extended period it necessary to modify the FTE. Using the example above the 50% FTE is divided by the 12 month extended pay period and multiplied by the 9 months actually worked, so that the FTE becomes 37.5% (50% / 12 * 9). The employee will still receive gross pay of £11,250 (£30,000 p.a. x 37.5%), but this will now be paid over 12 months at £937.50 per month. 

The advantage of this arrangement is that the employee does not have to be taken on and off the payroll and departments do not have to submit appointment forms on an annual basis.

Reporting Line

UCL Lecturers (Teaching)are usually shown reporting to the head of department. This will be assumed to be the default.

Finance Codes, Charges and Funding Authorisation

This section spreads the cost of employment over the prescribed finance codes. The Charge must add up to 100%, irrespective of the FTE.

Example A: UCL Lecturers (Teaching) with an FTE of 50% is to be funded equally from two accounts. The charge would be 50% to the first finance code and 50% to the second finance code.

Example B: UCL Lecturer (Teaching) has an FTE of 60%. It has been agreed to split the funding between three codes thus, FTE 20% to Code A, FTE 30% to Code B and FTE 10% to Code C. The charge would be 33.3% (20:60) to Code A; 50.0% (30:60) to Code B; and 16.7% (10:60) to Code C.

If you have queries about finance codes please contact either your Planning and Management Accounts representative or Faculty Management Accountant. 

Signatures

Forms are to be signed or adjusted by authorised signatories only. A list of authorised signatories is maintained in both HR and Finance and Business Affairs.

Appendix 1 – Calculating FTE’s for employees with irregular working patterns

Appendix 2 - Paying salaries over an extended period

When an employee is working for part of the year, but is to be paid over 12 months it is necessary to modify the FTE and calculate a Restated FTE.

Example: A UCL Lecturer (Teaching) employed on a salary of £30,000 per annum, with an FTE of 50%, working 1st October to 30th June (9 months) will receive gross pay of £11,250 (£30,000 p.a. x 50% divided by 12 months x 9 months). If this was paid over 9 months the employee would receive £1,250 per month.

However, pay the same sum over a 12 month extended period it necessary to modify the FTE. Using the example above the 50% FTE is divided by the 12 month extended pay period and multiplied by the 9 months actually worked, so that the FTE becomes 37.5% (50% / 12 * 9). The employee will still receive gross pay of £11,250 (£30,000 p.a. x 37.5%), but this will now be paid over 12 months at £937.50 per month. A completed form is shown in Appendix 4.

Problems with underpayment can occur when the employee resigns or the employment is terminated. In such circumstance the leave form has to be adjusted or a special request made to modify the pay in the final month. Continuing from the example above:

An employee works their nine month period 1st October 2005 to 30th June 2006 and resigns their post effective from 30th June 2006. There is no accrued annual leave outstanding. At the point of resignation the employee has completed 100% of their annual contractual working hours. However, the employee has only received 9/12th of their annual pay since this has been spread over a period extending beyond the end of their actual working period. Therefore the individual resigning effective from 30th June 2006 expects to receive pay of £11,250 but will have received £8,437.50 (9 x £937.50 per month). In order to ensure the employee receives the correct pay there are two choices:

1. Complete the Leavers form showing a last working day of 30th June 2006 and a last day of service of 30th September 2006. This approach will keep the employee on the payroll until 30th September 2006, but will mean that their P45 is not issued until after 30th September 2006.
    
2. Complete the Leavers form showing a last working day of 30th June 2006 and a last day of service of 30th June 2006. Write a covering letter which must be submitted with the leavers form indicating that the employee worked a less period but has been paid over an extended period (i.e. worked 9 months but paid equally over 12 months) and will require their final months pay adjusting for the underpayment year to date.

Appendix 3 – Calculating paid annual leave entitlements for employees

UCL Lecturers (Teaching) accrue a full-time equivalent annual leave entitlement of 27 days paid leave per annum, pro rata to their duration of employment and FTE. Below are examples for calculating annual leave.

Example 1 – Annual Leave: Days taken off within paid employment

A UCL Lecturer (Teaching) working 50% FTE from 1st October to 31st December (3 months) would accrue the following paid annual leave entitlement:

27 days annual leave x 50% FTE = 13.5 days per annum divided by 12 months multiplied by 3 months worked = 3 days (22.5 hours) annual leave (where a day is 7.5 hours for non-clinical employee).

If the term finished on 15th December the employer could request the employee take their annual leave entitlement between 16th December and 21st December (assuming 22nd – 31st December is public and statutory leave days).

Example 2 – Annual Leave: Working hours enhanced to include paid leave

A department wants a Lecturer (Teaching) to work 100 hours during term time and must therefore include a provision for paid annual leave entitlement. A standard uplift in working hours of circa 11.55% (5.4 weeks out of 46.74 weeks = 11.55%) will be enable paid annual leave entitlement to be taken where this cannot be accommodated within the prescribed working hours. 

The same principles as per example 1 above can be used to calculate the annual leave entitlement for someone with an irregular working pattern. In these cases it is often helpful to express the leave entitlement in hours rather than days. The full-time annual leave entitlement of 27 days is equivalent to 202.5 hours (27 days x 7.5 hours).

A Lecturer (Teaching) is schedule to work 100 hours over 8 weeks, should have their working hours enhanced by 11.2% to 111.2 hours. The FTE will need to be calculated based on the 111.2  hours paid employment over 8 weeks, which is 13.9 hours per week and gives a FTE 38% (13.9 / 36.5 hours). Leave will therefore be 38% of 202.5 hrs  = 76.9 hours per annum, divided by 52.14 weeks multiplied by 8 weeks worked = 11.8 hours paid annual leave. This enables the employee to be paid for 108.3 hours, take 8.3 hours annual leave during the period and work the prescribed 100 hours.

Annual Leave Ratios

Annual leave taken during paid employment is consumed at 5.4 weeks every 52.14 weeks (11.55 out of 111.55), whereas leave entitlement is added to working hours at the rate of 4 weeks to every 46.74 weeks worked (11.55 for every 100).

Appendix 4

Example of form completed for a new employee starting 1st January 2006, on a continuous contract with a season work pattern of 1st October to 30th June each year. The employee is paid over 12 months and therefore the FTE is restated.

HR Strategy and Planning
October 2016