Appointment and Engagement Payments
Any payment made to an individual in return for the provision of work or services is treated as an appointment or engagement. This includes the following types of payment:
- Employment payments to staff
- Payments to students in return for work done by them
- Fee payments to visitors (lecturers, speakers or external examiners)
- Payments to consultants or individuals in return for services provided
- Payments to agency workers
The method of payment depends on the relationship of the individual with the University:
- Employees (full time, part time, variable hours) with University contract - payment made via University Payroll.
- Casual workers and Casual Teachers (on contracts of less than 12 weeks) – payment via Casual Payments (paid via the main University payroll cycle).
- Agency Staff – The recruitment agency should be paid via Purchase to Pay.
- Consultants – see the Consultancy test for details.
Additional relationships with individuals
There are two additional types of relationships with individuals who are not University employees where the nature of the appointment will determine how payment is made for services:
External Examiners
The answer to three questions is required:
- Does the contract with the individual related solely to duties as an examiner?
- Does the examination set or conducted lead to a degree, diploma or professional qualification?
- Is the exam completed on one day?
If the answer to all three is YES – payment should be via Expenses.
If the answer to any of the answers is NO – payment must be made via Casual Payments.
Visiting Instructors, Lecturers, Speakers and Teachers
The answer to three questions is required:
- Is the individual engaged on an ad hoc basis to provide a single lecture or short series of lectures* on a subject about which he or she has specialist knowledge?
- Is the lecture or lectures provided outside of and not a part of any core curriculum, accredited or examined syllabus?
- Are all materials used (including textbooks, handouts, etc.) provided by the lecturer and not the University?
If the answer to all three is YES – payment should be via the Payment Request process.
If the answer to any one of the above is NO - payment may be made via the Casual Payments process or assessed for employment status using the Consultancy Test (in any cases of doubt the Casual Payments process should be used in preference to the consultancy route).
*For clarity, this will be taken to mean no more than 5 lectures or teaching sessions in any 6 month period and not forming part of any regular pattern of employment.
Contact details
For further information, please contact:Payments Team
Telephone: 01865 - (6) 16016 or (6) 16103