Category Archives: News

Revised appraisal documents

UCU representatives recently met with members of the senior management team to discuss their plans for the new round of appraisals for academic and teaching staff. An email has been sent to Surrey UCU members with copies of the proposed appraisal documentation, and a link to SurveyMonkey that allows you to record feedback on these proposals anonymously.

The survey will close on the 25th of April .

In summary, the research targets have changed in the proposals as follows:

“For Professors and Readers – Achieve a minimum of six outputs over a four year period of which at least two are world leading quality and the others are at least internationally excellent quality.

For Senior Lecturers and Lecturers – Achieve a minimum of four outputs over a four year period of which at least one is world leading quality and the others are at least internationally excellent quality.”

Other changes:

The MEQ target remains at 4.1, rather than increasing to 4.15 as originally planned. MEQ scores appear as a pre-set target rather than an example.

The forms for academic staff are now completely separate from the forms for teaching fellows.

There are quite a few further changes so i would encourage everyone to read the attachments in order that we can get a comprehensive response of all aspects.

Email Alison Cottell if you haven’t received the documents and the SurveyMonkey link.

Overview of USS Pension Changes

From 1 April 2016 all members of USS will have at least two versions of their pension scheme and some earning above £55,000 will have three versions of their pension plan.

Current Final Salary Members

fall into two categories:

  1. Those earning below £55,000 will have a defined benefit final salary pension entitlement based on the period up to 1st April and a defined benefit career revalued benefit pension entitlement accruing from 1st April 2016.
  2. Those earning above £55,000 will have both of the above benefits plus an individual defined contribution account on the balance above £55,000. The risk of this element of pension have been shifted from USS to the fund member who will select a fund or funds into which their contributions will be invested.

    Neither will benefit from this change and members’ contributions will increase from 7.5% to 8%. (It doesn’t matter that employers contributions increase because the benefit is already defined- hence the term ‘Defined Benefit’)

Current Members of the Career Revalued Benefit Scheme

(Members joining the scheme after 1 Oct 2011)

  • These members will now have two CRB schemes – the pre-April and the post-April Scheme. Career Revalued Benefits (CRB) for all members on salary up to £55,000 accrued at a different accrual rate to that provided currently (the new accrual rate will be 1/75th of salary per year as pension, along with 3/75ths of salary as a lump sum). The Threshold of £55,000 will operate as described above.

The new CRB scheme may have been regarded as a modest improvement on the old scheme if it were not for the substantial hike in members’ contributions which will increase from 6.5% to 8% of pensionable salary.

Further details are available in a document prepared by Surrey UCU’s Pensions Representative here:

An Overview of USS Scheme Change

Links to USS site:

https://forthefuture.uss.co.uk/

http://www.uss.co.uk/news/Pages/ChangestoUSS.aspx

There is also a benefit illustrator on the site so that you can get a picture of what your new and more complex pension looks like.

https://www.ussbenefitillustrator.co.uk/

Ballot result

Trade dispute between UCU and the University of Surrey concerning the failure to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies for members of staff within the UCU bargaining group as a result of the current operational review.

The ballot closed at noon on Thursday 30 April 2015. The response to the question you were balloted on is as follows:

Are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of strike action? 

Number of ballot papers returned: 117

Number voting YES: 72 (62.6%)

Number voting NO: 43 (37.4%)

Number of papers found to be invalid: 2

Are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of action short of strike action? 

Number of ballot papers returned: 117

Number voting YES: 82 (71.9%)

Number voting NO: 32 (28.1%)

Number of papers found to be invalid: 3

Turnout: 40.1%

You can view the scrutineers’ report here: www.ucu.org.uk/?mediaid=7242

Support from the University of Chichester UCU

The University of Chichester UCU branch notes:

1.   that the University of Surrey has announced plans to dismiss 100 members of staff on grounds of redundancy; and

2.   that the University of Surrey UCU branch is working to resist job cuts and is balloting for industrial action.

The branch:

1.   supports our colleagues at the University of Surrey; and

2.   instructs its committee to send a message of support to University of Surrey UCU as soon as possible.

We hereby send you greetings of support and solidarity, and trust that you will pass these on to colleagues.

FAQs during ballot period

I haven’t received my ballot paper:

Please contact Euclid Pires at [email protected] in the regional office, preferably by email, providing the correct mailing address at which the ballot paper should have arrived and your membership number (if known). If the ballot opened less than a week ago, you may be asked to wait a few more days to see if it arrives. If a ballot paper has already been sent to you but does not arrive, UCU can ask the scrutineer to issue a duplicate ballot paper, which will come with a duplicate declaration form on which you will be asked to declare that you have received only one ballot paper.

I’ve just joined UCU, can I be sent a ballot paper?

You can contact Euclid Pires at [email protected] in the regional office to request one. But a ballot paper cannot be sent to you until your membership has been confirmed by UCU’s membership department at head office.

I received a ballot paper, but I’m no longer at the institution being balloted:

Please contact [email protected] in the regional office, who will make sure our records are updated. Please destroy the ballot paper.

I received a ballot paper and I shouldn’t have done/I haven’t received a ballot paper but I should have done – is the ballot now invalid?

No. Although UCU does its best to keep membership data up to date at all times, it is data which by its nature changes daily and it is unrealistic to expect 100 per cent accuracy at all times. The statutory requirements that apply to industrial action make allowances for minor errors of a scale unlikely to affect the outcome of the ballot.

I didn’t receive a ballot paper, can I take part in the action?

If you were entitled to vote, but didn’t receive a ballot paper through an error or lost post, you can still take part in the action.

I joined the union after the ballot had closed, or after the call to take industrial action had been made, can I take part in action?

Yes. If there is a call to take industrial action, you can take part in that industrial action as soon as your membership has been confirmed by the membership department at UCU’s national head office. Please wait for this confirmation before you take part in action.

Why is ERS’s address on my ballot return envelope slightly different to their registered office address?

Running ballots all the time, ERS receive so much post that they have special arrangements for receiving ballot returns via a main sorting office. All their mail is ultimately delivered to the same building, and any ballot paper sent in the pre-paid envelope provided or returned to their registered office address will reach them.

Support from UCU South East Region

SE Regional Committee UCU notes the widespread dismay and anger across the sector at the short-sighted and bullying initiative lately undertaken by the University of Surrey senior management. The ‘Operational Review’ being carried out by Surrey senior management not only threatens 100 jobs, it expands and intensifies the type of micro-management which is anathema to both job-satisfaction or to academic excellence. The loss of those posts (75 of them expected to be academic) will not only weaken the fabric of support for students and their disciplines, it will also result in a real increase of teaching and teaching-related work for staff who remain at the University.

 

In place of fear and fury, Sir Christopher Snowden, the obscenely overpaid VC of Surrey, needs to work in partnership with academic, administrative and student-support staff. The processes of trust and reciprocity which should stand at the heart of relationships between staff and students, and between staff and the University, stand in grave danger of being eroded at the University of Surrey. UCU members in the South-East Region offer our full solidarity to our colleagues in the University of Surrey as they resist the threats to the credibility and integrity of the University of Surrey as a HE institution. We will support you in your campaign to protect Higher Education at the University of Surrey in any way we can.

Mick Dawson – SE Regional Committee Secretary

Patricia McManus – Higher Education Committee (HEC) of NEC

Operational Review – FAQs

We have received lots of really pertinent questions about the Operational Review. We will keep this post updated with frequently asked questions and answers.

  • What legal support is available to me as a member of UCU?

Many will be extremely anxious about the proposal to cut up to 100 posts at the University. This is an unprecedented attack on the Surrey workforce and will be resisted by your union collectively.

Understandably, you may believe there is a legal remedy to your post being put at risk. Unfortunately it is highly unlikely there is such a remedy. UK law is clear that if the following criteria are met redundancies are lawful.

(a) the fact that his employer has ceased or intends to cease

(i) to carry on the business for the purposes of which the employee was employed by him, or
(ii) to carry on that business in the place where the employee was so employed, or

(b) the fact that the requirements of that business

(i) for employees to carry out work of a particular kind, or
(ii) for employees to carry out work of a particular kind in the place where the employee was employed by the employer, have ceased or diminished or are expected to cease or diminish.”

The focus is not on whether there is less work, but whether the employer can demonstrate a need for fewer employees to carry out the work.

You will no doubt have more legal questions. For this reason UCU in association with Thompsons Solicitors will be holding a presentation and Q & A on Wednesday 15th April at noon in Teaching Block 18. This will be followed by a limited number of very brief one to one sessions. If you wish to have a one to one please contact Euclid Pires at [email protected] who will assign you a time slot.

  • Is the enhanced voluntary severance package on offer at Surrey really generous?

Here are some examples of voluntary severance offers in similar institutions.

Aberystwyth: http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/hr/employment-information/vs/ One month for each year (max 12 months) and full, unreduced pension for older members of staff.

Cardiff: offer 12 months severance regardless: http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/humrs/staffinfo/voluntarysev/

Dundee: 15 months http://www.dundee.ac.uk/media/dundeewebsite/hr/documents/policiesandprocedures/voluntaryseverance/Voluntary%20Severance%20-%20Academic%202015.docx

Queen Mary offer to top up pensions: http://www.hr.qmul.ac.uk/procedures/exit/eppvs/index.html

Manchester: up to 14 months full salary http://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=9651

Our management will no doubt argue that there is a fixed budget for voluntary severance payments but it’s worth noting that, in spite of much talk of of financial pressures due to the general economic climate the university budget is in surplus; our Vice Chancelor is the 10th highest paid in the land and we are investing huge sums in new buildings.

University of Surrey has the highest number of non-academics on salaries of over £100,000 a year but scores of redundancies amongst academics are being made to save staff costs

According to the Times Higher,

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/senior-administrative-staff-salary-details-kept-secret/2017825.article

 The ratio of highly paid administrators/managers at Surrey is 6 or 7 times as high as at Imperial!   Imperial College London said that 28 of its non-academic staff earned at least £100,000 a year, compared with 291 academics, but it declined to list any of their salary bands. At the University of Leeds, 16 professional staff earned more than £100,000.

The University of Surrey had the highest number of non-academic staff on £100,000 or more a year (17), including the chief financial officer (£160,000 to £170,000) and the vice-president of marketing and communications (£120,000 to £130,000). Only 26 academics earned more than £100,000, Surrey said.