Consultation on proposed reform of Statute 18 announced

Statute 18 lays down procedures for dealing with certain aspects of the employment of academic staff, including grievance, discipline, dismissal and appeal processes. It is now however seriously out of date having largely been overtaken by modern employment law. Most Russell Group universities  have either completed a reform of the statute or are well underway with it. The intended outcome of UCL's reform will be to develop a unified modern employment code for all staff whilst retaining  the special condition of academic freedom for all staff involved in academic work.

We have already started discussions with UCL's trade unions on the proposed reform and Academic Board will have the opportunity to discuss the proposed reform at its next meeting on 23 May.  

We are also keen, in line with recent established practice, to give staff the opportunity to participate in the consultation process. To facilitate this, next week's issue of The Week@UCL  staff will include links to a staff discussion paper  on the proposed reform, further details of the proposed changes and information on how staff can submit comments on the proposals.

Professor Anthony Finkelstein, Dean of Engineering Sciences