Planned industrial action from 20 April at UCL

24 April 2023

An updated message from Donna Dalrymple, Chief People Officer.

Dear colleagues,

University and College Union (UCU) has notified us of continuous Action Short of Strike (ASoS) which is planned to start from 20 April 2023 and includes a marking and assessment boycott.

We have been notified that the ASoS will comprise:

working to contract
not undertaking any voluntary activities
not rescheduling classes and lectures cancelled due to strike action
not covering for absent colleagues
removing uploaded materials related to, and/or not sharing materials related to, lectures or classes that will be or have been cancelled as a result of strike action
a marking and assessment boycott.

For this period of industrial action, ASoS will include a marking and assessment boycott for the first time. This means that some staff may choose not to carry out marking and associated assessment activities/duties, including supporting students as they prepare for assessment. This also covers other assessment-related work such as exam invigilation, the processing of marks and preparation for and running of exam boards.

The announcement of a marking and assessment boycott is disappointing; there had been signs of potential progress in negotiations between the unions and employer bodies on key areas including a review of the pay spine, equality pay gaps, workload and contract types. However, while we are disappointed that UCU have called on its members to take this course of action, we respect the right of staff to withhold labour.

We expect that the impact of the boycott will vary according to course, subject and department. While the impact is likely to be minimal in many departments, it may be significant for some students as it comes in the third term of the academic year.

We are committed to minimising the impact of this boycott on our students and we will do everything we can to support their educational outcomes and wellbeing. In previous disputes, we have always ensured that students are able to complete their studies and graduate. We will continue to do what we can to ensure that this is the case and will be putting in place a number of mitigation measures, for example, using alternative markers, providing guidance to examination boards, reviewing individual students’ marks profiles against achievement of the programme learning outcomes, and condoning missing marks where we can demonstrate that the learning outcomes have already been met.

Information for staff intending to participate in the marking and assessment boycott: declaring participation and withholding 50% pay

Marking and assessment activity makes up a significant proportion of the workload for most staff in student-facing roles (whether academic or PS), particularly at this time of year. For this reason, and as participating in the boycott represents a partial performance of contractual duties, those participating in the boycott will have 50% of their pay withheld as follows:

The period of central assessments at UCL begins on 24 April 2023 and runs until the release of marks on 6 July. This covers the assessment period for all UG and PGT Exam Boards that use the marks submission deadline of 9 June. We will therefore assume that anyone who participates in the boycott will be boycotting for the entire period of 24 April to 6 July.
Staff intending to boycott are required to self-declare their participation in the boycott through the online industrial action reporting portal. They must also notify their Head of Department via email of their participation to help minimise the impact on students’ educational outcomes and to facilitate local mitigation. Declarations must be submitted by Friday 12 May.
The decision to withhold pay will be based on self-declaration of participation through the portal or on other evidence of participation such as marks not being submitted or local records of an assessment related activity, for example invigilation of an exam or processing of marks, not taking place.
The withholding of pay will not be implemented before 9 June which is the official UCL marks exchange deadline, although Departments/Units will have set submission deadlines earlier than 9 June. Colleagues should submit marks according to their internal department/unit timelines. Until 9 June, if staff decide to withdraw their participation and have completed all assessment related activities and any marks have been submitted, then no pay will be withheld. Staff can withdraw their self-declaration by emailing their Head of Department and demonstrating they have completed their marking and assessment activities.
Staff participating in the boycott will start to see pay withheld in their July 2023 salary and they will continue to have a phased deduction in the subsequent period of 3 months until the total 50% deduction for the entire 24 April – 6 July period is recovered. This will be made at the rate of 0.5/365 of your annual salary (including London Allowance if received) per day.

We will not withhold pay for participation in other forms of ASoS, which have been ongoing since November 2022, and staff are not required to declare their participation. However, we will keep this under review and reserve the right to withhold up to 100% of pay for any ASoS that constitutes partial performance of duties.

Any decision to increase the level at which pay will be withheld will apply prospectively (and not for prior participation in the boycott) and staff will be notified in advance of any increase to the level of pay withheld.

We also reserve the right to extend the period that pay will be withheld to beyond 6 July. This could be determined by individuals not participating in additional marking and assessment responsibilities, for example not taking part in future postgraduate research student vivas.

Pay withheld due to the marking and assessment boycott will not be repaid at the end of the dispute. Staff who participate in the marking and assessment boycott but who are leaving UCL, will be contacted to make arrangements for recovery of the overpayment. If you have any questions about these calculations, please contact  hr.services@ucl.ac.uk.

If you have questions about the impact of withholding pay on your pension, please contact UCL Pensions on  pensions@ucl.ac.uk.

Self-declarations

We are aware that UCU has advised members that they should not self-declare their participation in the boycott by 12 May. We would like to make it clear that UCL staff are required to self-declare if they are participating in the boycott through the online industrial action reporting portal. This is because, although staff are not required to declare participation in the boycott in advance, they are legally required to confirm their participation in industrial action if asked to do so once the action has commenced. 

We have asked that declarations are submitted by Friday 12 May, after the start of the boycott, making it a legal requirement for staff to declare. Please note that, although the UCU boycott commenced today, 20 April, we will calculate any pay withheld from the start date of our central assessment period on 24 April. The withholding of pay will not be implemented before 9 June which is the deadline for the submission of marks at UCL. 

In the interests of supporting our students, we have also asked that staff participating in the boycott notify their Head of Department via email to help minimise the impact on students’ educational outcomes and to facilitate local mitigation.

Duration of the boycott and partial performance

UCU has made clear that the boycott covers all marking and associated assessment activities and duties. This includes not providing informal guidance/feedback to students concerning their likely mark/grade or assessed progress, and other assessment-related work such as exam invigilation, the processing of marks and preparation for and running of exam boards. These activities make up a significant proportion of the workload of most staff in student-facing roles (whether academic or PS), particularly at this time of year.

Many of these activities, such as preparing students for assessment or providing feedback to them, are not limited to a singular moment in time but are continuous duties throughout the central assessment period (24 April –6 July). This is why we consider that participation in the boycott is continuous between these dates. 

Boycotting these activities and duties represents a continuous partial performance of contractual duties related to this assessment period and, as such, we will withhold 50% of pay. UCU’s boycott FAQs state: “Partial performance' is deemed, in law, to be continuous until the dispute ends - even if on days when members have no marking to do. This means you can have pay deducted every day for the duration of the marking and assessment boycott”.

As the UCU marking and assessment boycott is part of continuous ASoS, and as UCU has not fixed an end date, we reserve the right to extend the period that pay is withheld beyond 6 July. This decision may be prompted by individuals not participating in additional marking and assessment responsibilities after that date, for instance not taking part in future postgraduate research student vivas.

Annual leave during a marking and assessment boycott

Staff may have pre-booked annual leave during a period when they are participating in the marking and assessment boycott. They are entitled to receive their normal pay during a period of annual leave. UCL will only recognise annual leave that has been booked and approved through the university’s leave booking system (e.g. MyHR or Inside UCL) when calculating salaries. Managers have the discretion to ask staff to book leave for alternative dates or to refuse annual leave requests if there is not sufficient staffing resource to meet operational needs.

How are we responding to the key issues in this dispute?

The current economic and geo-political environment means that these are exceptionally challenging times for our sector, for UCL and for our community. Questions of pay and pensions are bound up in national agreements and bargaining arrangements. We will continue to encourage UUK and UCEA (who represent the hundreds of employers involved in national bargaining) to work together with UCU to find long-term and sustainable solutions. We have also taken local action where this has been feasible, such as through an increase in London weighting for our staff.

You can see all the ways in which we are trying to address these issues of concern at UCL on the HR news site under 'How UCL is tackling key issues'.

What have students been told about the industrial action?

We have communicated this news directly to students here and will be updating our student FAQs too. If your students have questions about the marking and assessment boycott and what it might mean for them, please direct them to this page.

We are advising all students to continue revising and preparing for assessments. Students will not be assessed on any academic content that has not been taught due to strike action, and there have been no previous cases of students not being able to complete their studies due to industrial action.

We will continue to do everything we can to ensure that this is the case and will be putting in place a number of mitigation measures, for example, using alternative markers, providing guidance to examination boards, reviewing individual students’ marks profiles against achievement of the programme learning outcomes, and condoning missing marks where we can demonstrate that the learning outcomes have already been met.

When handling any problems related to examinations and assessments, UCL has experience of being fair to students while also ensuring the integrity of our academic standards. We have established an Examinations and Assessment Contingency Panel and, in line with other universities, will be introducing measures to help ensure that students are not disadvantaged in their assessments and examinations as a result of industrial action.  

We expect that the impact of any boycott will vary according to course, subject and department. Students should check their emails and Moodle regularly for updates and contact their department if they have any queries.

We will continue to keep you updated.

Donna Dalrymple

Chief People Officer, UCL