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Contracts

A revised format for contracts of employment for academic-related and university support staff has been introduced for use from 4 October 2011.

The new format is intended to make the completion of contracts more straightforward, and facilitate future updating. The template is also compatible with the HR Information System (HRIS).

The templates for support staff contracts have been amended so that there is no longer any mention of a retirement age, although the employee is reminded that they may choose to retire in accordance with the rules of the pension scheme to which they belong. 

The templates for academic-related staff contain new wording to reflect the adoption of the Employer Justified Retirement Age (EJRA) of 67 from 1 October 2011. 

Main changes to the contract templates for Support and Academic-related Staff

• The separate templates for permanent, self-financing, open-ended externally-funded, and fixed-term contracts have been brought together so that there is a one template for academic-related staff and one for support staff.  This is intended to make it easier to choose and follow the appropriate contract type. 
• The contract is now consists of two parts:  one document which is a statement of standard terms and conditions; and one document which holds details of the individual appointment (e.g. starting salary, probation period, etc).   This is intended to simplify the production and checking of contracts.
• For fixed-term contracts, some of the detail which was previously included in the contract itself (such as the source of funding) has been removed from the contract and should in future be set out in a separate, accompanying side-letter.  This is so that any incidental change in those details, such as a change of name for the funding grantor, can be notified by letter and do not require the contract itself to be amended or reissued.
• The guidance notes have been simplified to form a checklist. 
• There is no longer a requirement to attach hard copies of policies and codes of practice.  Instead the statement of standard terms and conditions provides links to the university websites holding statutes, regulations and policies.  This is intended to save time and resource, and also to ensure that new employees always have access to the most up to date documents.
• The job description should be included as a standard attachment.

Offer letter

A new pro-forma offer letter is available to be used should it be necessary or desirable to provide a candidate with formal confirmation of a job offer and of the main conditions attached to the offer.

CoreHR

The pro-forma contract templates are available here for reference. Contracts and offer letters can be generated and auto-populated from Core Personnel, which makes the production of new contracts quicker and more accurate.

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