Project Headroom
Project Headroom Phase 2 Update
Posted 21.04.09
Jim Atherton and myself went to a Headroom overarching meeting on 14 April 2009. The current state of play is :-
- They have achieved 140 of the 150 job losses they wanted.
- There are 10 positions still at risk and 33 staff in the ‘at risk’ groups
- The jobs at risk are:
- Health Faculty Office – 1 academic related
- Languages – 1.5 academic
- Learning Development Unit – 1 non-academic
- ILS – 2.5 carried over from Phase 1 (1 academic related, 1.5 non-academic).
- CSE – 2 (1 academic, 1 academic related)
- ELS – 1 academic
- Estates – 1 non academic
- While there are no guarantees, it seems likely that these 10 will reduce considerably during the next few weeks through ‘bumping’ and redeployment.
- The 90 days minimum statutory redundancy consultation ends on Thursday 16th April.
- We have refused to end the redundancy consultation. This was not controversial and was accepted by Management. However, we have agreed that work can progress in making arrangements for the volunteers to leave. Agreeing a leaving date is the first step.
Please see below for important information on agreeing leaving dates and advice on compromise agreements.
John Dobson, President, Salford UCU
Advice to Members on Compromise Agreements
Posted 26.02.09
Advice is now available to members on how to go about agreeing your Compromise Agreement.
Response from the Registrar to the UCU Formal Reply to Project Headroom
Posted 17.02.09
The UCU Formal Reply to Project Headroom is given here.
We have now received a response from the Registrar which may be seen here.
Phase 1 of Headroom - the conclusion of Collective Consultations
Posted 17.02.09
At a Committee Meeting on Wednesday 15th January the decision was taken to agree to conclude collective consultations on Phase 1 on 23rd January 2009 – this is the conclusion of the 90 days minimum statutory consultation period. The Committee wanted to make it clear to members that this decision does not mean that we agreed the business case presented to support Project Headroom, nor the redundancies in ILS, Salford Business School and CHSSC. This decision was taken because the Committee was well aware that members who had taken VS urgently needed to make arrangements, and members who were in ‘at risk’ groups needed to know what was going to happen to them.
We will produce a more detailed report on Phase 1 shortly.
John Dobson, President, Salford UCU
Compromise Agreement - Appointment of a Solicitor
Posted 28.01.09
Staff taking VS are being asked for the name of a Solicitor who will advise them on the compromise agreement and sign the form. Clearly they can use any solicitor they want. However, if they want to use the USU recommended solicitors, they should e mail a copy of the compromise agreement to the UCU Regional Office - Helen Sidlow e mail address HSidlow@UCU.ORG.UK and she will arrange for it to be sent to Thompsons who have a dedicated unit specifically to deal with compromise agreements.
The cost is £350 + VAT.
Agreeing a leaving date under voluntary severance
Posted 26.01.09
We have already had a few problems which we have discussed with management. Following their reply on Friday 23rd January 2009, we believe that the University is aiming to pursue a common approach, which we have incorporated into the following questions and answers.
Meetings with individual staff to discuss their leaving date are being scheduled from w/c 26th January 2009.
Q. Do I have any say in when I leave?
A. Yes. Leaving dates should be mutually agreed between the departmental head and the member of staff. The words used by management are “leave dates are to be mutually convenient and in line with operational needs”. For this reason each person will have their own individual leave date.
Q. Will my leave date affect the amount of voluntary severance I receive?
A. Possibly. Unfortunately the University will only pay voluntary severance on whole years of service, up to the date on which you actually leave. If you have less than 20 years service a later leave date may get you another years VS, depending on when you started at Salford.
Q. Does only service at the University of Salford count towards voluntary severance?
A. No. Service at Salford University College and the Northern College of Nursing and Midwifery is also included.
Q. Will I receive pay in lieu of notice?
A. Not normally. Staff should expect to work whatever notice period is in their contracts. For most academic and academic related staff this is 3 months. The only situation in which staff will not work their notice period is if the member of staff themselves requests to leave early and in this circumstance they will not receive pay in lieu of notice.
Q. Will I receive holiday pay?
A. Not normally. Members of staff will be expected to take any outstanding leave during their notice period, unless ‘operational needs’ prevent this. In this case any outstanding leave will be paid. However, it is important that this is agreed with management in advance.
Q. Do I have to sign a compromise agreement?
A. It is normal to sign a compromise agreement if you leave under a voluntary severance arrangement. Amongst other things, this agreement will restrict your right to take legal action against the University. You have to get legal advice on the content of your compromise agreement before you sign and there is a certificate which your legal adviser has to sign. The University will pay for legal advice up to a fixed amount and this is normally sufficient to cover the cost.
We have also sent a copy of the standard compromise agreement to UCU's legal department and we will advise you if they see any problems. One important issue you should bear in mind is your right to pursue an outstanding HERA appeal.
Any problems, please let us know.
John Dobson, President Salford UCU, University of Salford
SCHSSC Management response to Joint Trade Unions' formal Response to the "Restructuring Business Case"
Posted 12.01.09
Please find the response from SCHSSC Management here. This was sent to the Unions on 22 December 2008.
UCUS EGM Notes and Papers
Posted 15.12.08
The notes from the meeting are here.
The slides giving details of redundancy numbers are here.
The joint unions response to the CHSSC Business Case Proposals is here.
The updated motion is here. The motion was passed and will go to the Committee meeting in January for action.
UCUS Formal Reply to Project Headroom
Posted 28.11.08
UCUS has now made a formal response to Project Headroom which has been passed to the University's Senior Management Team. To read the response please follow this link:
UCU Blog
Posted 13.10.08
In order to keep members up to date with current events, particularly the redundancy situation, the UCU Committee have set up a blog at http://salforducunews.blogspot.com/ At the moment there is a general statement, this will be followed by more detail once meetings have been held with staff later this week.