Collective Consultation meeting Tuesday 30th June and Thursday 2nd July

Selection Process and Criteria

Joint Report by UCU, UNISON and UNITE

Last week saw two collective consultation meetings, focused on the selection process and criteria for redundancy. 

In the first meeting, taking place on the 30th June, we discussed the proposed Professional Services Redundancy Selection Process and Criteria. The Trade Unions asked for further details on the sequencing of selection and redeployment for ring-fenced roles, highlighting the condensed and overlapping timelines and noting the potential issues with this. We then had an extended discussion on the criteria being used to assess submissions, and pushed University management to clarify some of the language and framing used in the documents, especially on the value of including measures on ‘good citizenship’ and ‘living the University values’. 

The Trade Unions also raised issues with panel composition and insisted on the ability for staff being assessed to declare any conflicts of interest with Panel Chairs (rather than this only working one way). Finally, we discussed the appeals process, again noting the tight timelines in the proposal.

In the second meeting, on the Academic Redundancy Selection Criteria and Process, held on 2nd July, the Trade Unions reiterated many of the points raised on the 30th. We stressed the need for the university to take a more proactive approach to offering reasonable adjustments for disabled staff. We discussed the composition approach for academic panels and the risk of concentrating so much decision power in the hands of Executive Deans, emphasising the need for accountability and clear criteria for all decisions in the process. The Trade Unions raised a number of issues with the selection process and criteria, especially around the focus on quantification and the limited space to make a qualitative argument around academic contribution. This discussion extended to the methodology, which offers a 0-4 scoring system across two to three categories that could disadvantage certain employees. University management agreed to review this process in light of our comments. Finally, we requested further information to be provided to migrant members around the impacts of redundancy (or any potential voluntary hours reductions) and requested enhanced redeployment measures for staff on certain visas.

In both meetings, the Trade Unions used the standing agenda item on Business Change Documents (BCDs) to highlight the insufficiencies of the addenda provided for the Division for the Student Experience and Media, Arts and Humanities BCDs. We thank our respective members for flagging these issues and will continue to push for full justifications for decisions made in these documents. We also continue to push for executive pay reductions, for promised further analysis on equality impact and for data on non-pay costs.

Our next negotiation meeting on Wednesday 8th July is an open agenda for the Trade Unions to bring any previously discussed issues or new items to University leadership. We also have a final collective consultation meeting with the Vice Chancellor on Wednesday 15th July. We welcome member input on these.