Redeployment guidance notes

Index:

Introduction

Following the introduction of the Management of Organisational Change Policy: Avoidance and Mitigation of Redundancy and the Management of Compulsory Redundancy Protocol, the University is strengthening its active commitment to seek to fully explore the scope to redeploy staff who are actually or potentially redundant.

Staff eligible for such support will be:

staff volunteering for redeployment;
staff whose posts have been formally identified as provisionally redundant (eg. staff who are ‘at risk’ having been advised of the potential for their redundancy through the redundancy consultation process); or
staff who have received formal notice of redundancy (referred to hereafter as staff who are "actually redundant").

In this context, the expiry of a fixed term contract is generally on the grounds of redundancy and accordingly such staff will be included within these processes. The redeployment procedure seeks to ensure that eligible staff are fully assisted to enable them to obtain suitable alternative posts within the University in order to avoid redundancies.

In seeking to provide suitable alternative employment, consideration will be given to the comparability of the new position with that previously held in terms of grade, rate of pay, hours of work, location and working environment. Given that exact matches may not be possible, flexibility and an open-minded approach will therefore be necessary from both the members of staff and management concerned. No available post should be dismissed from consideration for redeployment solely on the basis that it is at a lower/higher grade or salary than that held by any provisionally or actually redundant member of staff.

These guidance notes are intended to outline the processes which will facilitate redeployment activities and to identify the roles that will be involved for the staff directly affected, line management and HR staff. For the purposes of this document, hereafter, members of staff who are identified as provisionally or actually redundant, or are volunteers for redeployment, will simply be referred to as the member(s) of staff.

Job Seekers’ Register

To facilitate the redeployment process the University will use a Job Seekers’ Register (JSR) to maintain the details of the affected members of staff. This will be maintained by the Human Resources Service. The JSR will hold a wide range of standardised information on the members of staff to enable assessment of their suitability for interview and or appointment to redeployment opportunities in the University.

Members of staff will be required to provide a summary CV in a standard electronic format identifying their key qualifications, membership of professional bodies, experience, transferable skills, academic publications, employment interests and contact details. The JSR will retain such information, together with details of grade, academic title (where relevant), School/RI/Service, and, where relevant, expected date of redundancy. The JSR will provide direct links to staff’s current agreed job description (where electronically available) as well as their CV. Staff wishing assistance in completing the CV proforma should contact their line manager or territorial HR Manager.

Normally staff will be asked to provide their CV information and job descriptions at the start of the consultation process. The consultation commencement date will normally be one (1) month in advance of the issue of notice of redundancy, but will be determined taking account of both the number of staff provisionally proposed as redundant and the redundancy notice period required by contract and/or statute. In most cases consultation with trade unions and staff will be expected to commence four (4) months in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy. This will facilitate a minimum period of one (1) month’s consultation in advance of the maximum possible notice period of three (3) months. Thus in most cases staff will be asked to provide their CV information and job descriptions four (4) months in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy. Occasionally staff may not be required to serve their full notice periods and accordingly a minimum consultation period of one month will normally be applicable. In these cases staff will normally be asked to provide their CV information and job descriptions one (1) month in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy.

It is expected that early commencement of the consultation process will provide additionally for advance warning of the potential for redundancy, enable staff to consider the information they wish to supply in their CV within the standard format, enable job descriptions to be updated and agreed as necessary, and in the case of fixed term appointments enable the early consideration of the financial options available to support the post(s) in question. This latter element is particularly relevant in the case of grant-funded appointments.

When consultation commences four (4) months in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy, staff’s details will automatically be entered onto the JSR three (3) months in advance of the potential redundancy date, unless internal financial clearance has already been received to continue the post(s). Where a consultation period of less than four (4) months is provided, staff’s details will automatically be entered onto the JSR a minimum of one (1) month in advance of the potential redundancy date.

Redeployment process

Prior to advertising vacancies, managers with vacancies will first be expected to consider all staff on the Job Seekers’ Register to determine those who may satisfy the essential selection criteria for selection for interview for redeployment, or those who could satisfy these criteria with reasonable retraining. To assist in this process it will be advantageous to have consulted the territorial HR Manager to finalise the job and person specification for the vacancy prior to their use.

If having applied this procedure there is no interest in a vacancy or no appointable candidate, only then will the vacancy be advertised, internally and/or externally. It is expected that the redeployment selection process will normally be completed within 3 weeks.

Where it is unclear whether a member of staff could satisfy the essential selection criteria for selection for interview for redeployment, with or without retraining, the member of staff will be offered the opportunity for interview for redeployment regardless. A record will be kept of the reasons for selection or non-selection for interview for redeployment using the JSR Shortleet Assessment Form. The reasons for non-selection for interview will be reviewed by the territorial Human Resources Manager and provided to the member(s) of staff concerned.

Thus identified staff would be interviewed to review their suitability for appointment and required to submit a supporting letter of application (in addition to the CV and details supplied from the Job Seekers’ Register) in respect of such vacancies prior to the interview. The supporting letter of application will outline the applicant’s reasons they consider themselves a suitable match for the post for which they are to be interviewed. The redeployment interview panel will normally consist of the manager with the vacancy and a manager of similar seniority from a cognate School/RI/Service.

Following the interview:

If the member of staff fully satisfies the essential selection criteria, s/he will be offered the opportunity to be redeployed to the new position, subject to a mutually agreed trial period comprising the statutory four weeks’ trial. This trial period can be extended prior to commencement by mutual agreement to a longer duration should it be considered practical and necessary for retraining purposes only;
If the member of staff could fully satisfy the essential selection criteria with a reasonable level of retraining, the nature, extent and means for gaining such retraining will be agreed with the recruiting manager, member of staff and territorial Human Resources Manager. The member of staff will be offered the opportunity to be redeployed to the new position, subject to satisfactory completion of the agreed retraining and to a mutually agreed trial period inclusive of the statutory four week’s trial. Again, this trial period can be extended prior to commencement by mutual agreement to a longer duration should it be considered practical and necessary for retraining purposes only;
If the member of staff is unsuccessful at interview, written reasons will be provided to him/her indicating why an offer of the opportunity to be redeployed to this vacancy is not appropriate. The reasons for non-selection for redeployment will be reviewed by the territorial Human Resources Manager.

Terms of redeployment

In the event of redeployment to a lower paid post, the member of staff’s existing salary would be protected for a period of one year only. Protected existing salary will mean basic salary without overtime or other non-contractual payments. During the period of protection the protected salary will be ‘frozen’ and thus not attract incremental progression. Where the alternative employment is for different hours of work, either more or fewer than in the existing post, this will be taken into account in determining the extent of salary protection.

Where a new or renewed contract is offered it will not normally be appropriate for the University to seek to terminate a trial period prematurely. However, following appropriate consultation with the member of staff and the territorial Human Resources Manager, trial periods may be terminated by the University at any time during the period if the redeployment is not considered successful for reasons arising directly from the change in role. If a trial period is not terminated before its completion the redeployment to the post must be confirmed. The member of staff may terminate a trial period, following appropriate consultation, unconditionally on the grounds that it is considered unsuccessful. If the member of staff remains in post they will no longer be eligible for redundancy pay.

Any member of staff who has received formal notice of redundancy, who unreasonably declines an offer of suitable alternative employment or unreasonably terminates a trial period in that employment, will normally forfeit the right to redundancy pay.

Staff who are redeployed will receive a written statement of the terms of their amended contract; continuity of service and service-related benefits will be protected. Staff accept as a condition of redeployment to undertake appropriate retraining as deemed necessary by the University.

Appeal rights

Where there is a dispute over the reasons for non-selection for interview or redeployment, or the suitability of alternative employment, or whether a trial period was terminated unreasonably, the matter will be reviewed by the territorial Vice-Principal together with a Human Resources Manager not previously involved upon the written submission from the relevant member of staff or manager as appropriate.

Role of managers

Within the redeployment process managers have two key roles, either as the manager with the provisionally or actually redundant member of staff, or as the manager with a vacancy against which a potential redeployee could be considered.

The manager with the provisionally or actually redundant member of staff, supported by the Head of School/RI/Service as appropriate, will be responsible for conducting the redundancy consultation process and seeking to support the member of staff in their redeployment efforts. It is expected that managers normally will commence the redundancy consultation process, both individual and collective, four (4) months in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy unless circumstances provide otherwise as outlined in the Job Seekers’ Register section above.

The individual consultation process will involve managers in consideration with the member(s) of staff of:

advising the member of staff of the identification of their post as provisionally or actually redundant;
discussing with them the potential scope and ways to avoid their dismissal on the grounds of redundancy, which may include consideration of voluntary redeployment, severance or early retirement;
discussing with them the potential scope and ways to mitigate the consequences of potential dismissal for them.

In considering the scope for redeployment managers will wish to consider members of staff’s views on the types of employment and role(s) which the staff may be interested in redeploying to (eg. part time, job share, reduced hours, or lower salary etc.). Where groups of staff are being consulted it is recommended that this process be undertaken in conjunction with the territorial HR Manager. At all stages of consultation staff may be accompanied by a trade union representative or fellow worker. Assistance should also be provided where possible within Schools/RI's/Services to enable staff without access to PCs to provide electronic copies of their CV and agreed job description in Word ’95.

In considering with staff the measures which may be used to avoid potential or actual redundancies, the range of options may include:

reduction in non-staffing costs;
methods of increasing income to the College, School/RI/Service, section or budget centre affected;
reduction and/or termination of the use of external staffing resources e.g. agency staff;
non-replacement of staff following normal staff turnover;
restrictions on external recruitment in the staff categories affected or in areas to which staff may be redeployed;
where relevant, reducing or eliminating paid overtime;
reduction of hours of work or pay;
redeployment, relocation and/or retraining of members of staff to, and for, alternative types of work, or places of work within the University; and
the offer of voluntary early retirement or voluntary severance to staff within the College, School/RI/Service, section or budget centre affected, or elsewhere.

The HR Service will continue to provide the relevant trade unions with the formally required information to initiate redundancy consultation on a monthly basis through reports highlighting the affected staff.

However, managers would also be expected to undertake consultation with the relevant trade union representatives at a local level (either on an individual, School/RI/Service or College etc. basis) concerning the local impact of the provisional or actual redundancies on both the redundant member(s) of staff and the staff who may be affected by the implications of the redundancy situation (eg. workload implications etc.). Such consultation will be undertaken in a meaningful manner with a view to reaching agreement on ways to avoid, to reduce the numbers of, and to mitigate the consequences of the potential redundancies.

The collective consultation process will involve managers in consideration with the trade unions of the:

reasons for the redundancy proposals;
number and description of members of staff it is proposed to declare redundant;
total number of members of staff of any such description employed in the College, School/RI/Service, section or budget centre, directly affected;
proposed method of selecting the members of staff who may be identified as redundant eg. the selection criteria;
proposed method of carrying out the dismissals in accordance with agreed procedures as appropriate. Normally this would be in accordance with the provisions of the Management of Organisational Change Policy: Avoidance and Mitigation of Redundancy and the Management of Compulsory Redundancy Protocol;
period over which the dismissals are to take effect eg. the proposed effective date of redundancy;
proposed redundancy terms, including whether provision is to be made for pay in lieu of notice, and the method of calculation of the
proposed redundancy terms if other than the use of the statutory redundancy payment provisions.

Before conducting the collective consultation process with the local trade union representatives it would be advantageous to discuss the issues with the relevant territorial HR Manager who will seek to support managers in effectively carrying out this process.

The manager with a vacancy against which a potential redeployee could be considered will be responsible for ensuring all relevant staff on the JSR are considered for redeployment. The manager’s role is central to the effectiveness of the redeployment process. It is important that managers do not discount the potential suitability of staff on the JSR who may be pertinent to a vacancy without first considering their CVs and job descriptions against the criteria of the person specification for the vacancy. Managers will be expected to organise redeployment interviews and panels within School/RI/Service resources.

Managers are encouraged to enter into consultation with the member of staff and the territorial HR Manager regarding offers of redeployment and associated trial periods with an open and flexible approach to optimise the opportunities available. This is particularly encouraged when considering the termination of a trial period.

Under the provisions of the Recruitment & Selection Procedures in Schools/RI's/Services where there is local administration of the recruitment process, such managers will require to ensure before advertising or appointing as appropriate that they can demonstrate that there were no staff on the JSR who merited an interview or appointment using the JSR Shortleet Assessment Form. Copies of these forms should be provided to the territorial HR Manager as appropriate.

Role of potential redeployees

Members of staff have a responsibility to actively contribute to the redundancy consultation process and to seek suitable alternative employment within the University through the redeployment process. Without this the scope to effectively consider opportunities to avoid redundancies or redeploy staff will be significantly constrained.

Staff will be expected to provide their CV information in the standard summary format in Word ’95 and to sign a declaration to agree to the release of such personal data for access by relevant managerial staff eg. HR Managers and managers with vacancies (such as Heads of School/RI/Service, Deans, Principal Investigators) for the purposes of assessment of suitability for redeployment. They will also be expected to provide a copy of their current agreed job description at the same time.

Upon invitation to attend a redeployment interview staff will be expected to provide a supporting letter of application, in addition to the CV already provided. This is intended to enable staff to market themselves effectively through the opportunity to highlight the reasons they consider themselves a suitable match for the post for which they are to be interviewed. Staff wishing assistance in developing such a statement should contact their line management and/or territorial HR Manager.

Additionally, research staff may wish to seek career guidance or support from the Careers Service, utilising the dedicated resources which are currently available to support research staff in the management of their careers. Furthermore, research staff in IBLS and Urban Studies may wish to avail themselves of the services of CVs.ac.uk, a national web-based recruitment resource currently available on a pilot basis for staff in those Schools/RI's/Services only. It is intended as a tool exclusively for UK research staff to enable researchers to make their CVs available to other UK HEIs; the websites for IBLS and Urban Studies provide further information on how to access this service.

Staff will be provided with written reasons for non-selection for either interview or appointment for a redeployment opportunity. Staff can appeal in writing against such decisions to the Human Resources Service who will coordinate the management of the appeals process.

Staff are encouraged to enter into consultation with the manager concerned and the territorial HR Manager regarding offers of redeployment and associated trial periods with an open and flexible approach to optimise the opportunities available. This is particularly encouraged when considering the termination of a trial period.

Role of HR

The Recruitment Assistants will play a central role in supporting the administration of the redeployment process.

The relevant territorial Recruitment Assistant (RA), following liaison with the territorial Human Resources Assistant, will automatically add members of staff who are potentially or actually redundant to the JSR three (3) months in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy unless sufficient funds to continue employment have been internally financially authorised.

The RA will also:

ensure the JSR is updated on a weekly basis, and will input the relevant data for members of staff from Delphi and add electronic links to members of staff’s CV and agreed job description (where available);
provide written reasons for members of staff’s non-selection for either interview or appointment for a redeployment opportunity to such staff, utilising the information contained in the JSR Shortleet Assessment Form;
organise appeals in cases of dispute over (i) the reasons for non-selection for interview or redeployment, or (ii) the suitability of alternative employment, or (iii) whether a trial period was terminated unreasonably.

The territorial Human Resources Assistant (HRA) will issue consultation letters to Heads of Schools/RI's/Services and the members of staff concerned, normally four (4) months in advance of the proposed effective date of potential redundancy. The HRA will normally issue notice of dismissal on the grounds of redundancy one (1) month after the commencement of the consultation process, taking account of the redundancy notice period required by contract and/or statute and whether staff are being expected to serve their notice period in full or part.

The HRA will liaise on a monthly basis with their counterpart RA to update the JSR as new fixed term contract expiry dates or new proposed effective dates of potential redundancy arise.

The territorial HR Manager (HRM) will play a central role in supporting staff and managers in the effective operation of the redeployment process. Within this context the HRM will also:

support managers in the development of appropriate job descriptions and person specifications for vacancies;
provide advice on the relevant durations of the consultation and notice periods;
undertake group redundancy consultations in conjunction with line management;
ensure the JSR is updated in relation to the impact of any potential redundancies arising from restructuring exercises etc., whether to add new cases or remove successfully redeployed staff from the JSR;
provide guidance to staff concerning completion of the CV proforma
review the reasons for non-selection for interview and redeployment following an interview;
where there is local administration of the recruitment process, monitor the completion of the JSR Shortleet Assessment Form
advise managers and staff on the level of retraining which is reasonable in the circumstances, considering such matters as the nature, extent and means for gaining such retraining;
advise managers and staff on the appropriateness and duration of any extension to the four-week trial period or its premature cessation prior to the completion of the four-week period;
deliberate upon the extent of salary protection to be offered where relevant;
review appeal cases with the territorial Vice-Principal;
maintain an overview of the scope for redeployment opportunities available to individual members of staff to seek to ensure the University meets its obligations to each potential redeployee.

Appendices

Job Seekers’ Register: CV Proforma & Guidance Note on Completion of CV Proforma

Shortleet assessment form (excel)

April 2002
Redeployment Guidance Notes

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