Payment for Additional Responsibilities
Special Responsibility Allowances
Circumstances arise when it is appropriate to reward an individual for undertaking the responsibilities of a higher graded job for a period of time. This is usually because of absence of the usual post holder (long term sickness, maternity, secondment etc), or because the post is only available for a limited period of time.
Payment reflects the difference in grade and salary between the individual´s substantive post and the post that is being acted up to, and the proportion of the higher grade duties that are being assumed.
The payment is based on the difference between the individual´s current salary and the bottom point of the higher grade, or three incremental points whichever is the greater. Once the base payment has been established this should be multiplied by the proportion of the duties being carried out, to arrive at the additional sum to be paid. This will be determined precisely by the Head of Department in conjunction with Human Resources.
It should not be automatically assumed that payment will, or should be made in the circumstances described above.
Payment is not made where:
- the role of “Deputy” is included in the standard job description/summary (although this may need to be reviewed if the situation lasted for an inordinate length of time)
- the time scale is limited to less than 1 month for staff on grades 1 to 6, or 3 months for staff on grades 7 to 9
- the additional responsibilities are regarded as a development opportunity and/or a natural growth of the job
- the duties taken over are consistent with the current grade of the member of staff who is providing cover e.g. a lecturer taking over the teaching responsibilities of a senior lecturer
Payment for Additional Roles
There are a small number of roles in the University that are performed by individual members of staff in addition to the role on which their assimilation to the new grading structure is based.
Because of the distinction between the additional role and the main post, and the temporary nature of the appointments, some of these additional roles are rewarded separately rather than through their grade salary.
The roles which the University clearly want undertaking and which are not central to the main role are usually undertaken by academics for a limited number of years. These include such roles as Directors of Learning & Teaching and Research.
Payment is made for these roles and will be subject to periodic review.
With regard to academic staff who take on additional roles, it is important that payments are not made for roles which properly fall into their contractual requirement to perform administrative duties. These include such roles as departmental admissions officer, departmental examinations officer etc.
Responsibility Payments
Historically, individuals have from time to time received "one off" payments in recognition of a particular job "well done". In the past the criteria for making these awards has not been consistent across the whole University, and any such reward is now considered through the Exceptional Contribution Award process.