Message from the Vice-Chancellor - E&E and PAS

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Colleagues

Today I have written to Paul Hatcher of  University and College Union (UCU) to answer specific concerns about the Efficiency and Effectiveness (E&E) programme and the Professional and Administrative Services review (PAS) which have been raised in the online ‘vote of no confidence’ survey.

I want to share the letter with all of you. You can view it online here.

In summary, I state again that change on this scale is not easy. We are in the final stages of this ambitious, major three-year programme and I know that E&E has left many staff uncertain and unsettled. Engagement could, and should, have been stronger in parts of the programme. We have worked very hard to be open, constructive and transparent throughout, improving and strengthening our plans but there are important lessons that must be learned for the future.

To be clear though, difficult decisions and choices have been necessary to put our long-term finances on a firm footing. That way, we will protect, and continue to invest in, our core research and teaching activities. I would not be leading the current restructure, and other recent changes, if I was not confident that they would make the University stronger and better placed to deal with the future.

So today I have restated the need for change. I have confirmed that the University Council will be reviewing the E&E programme in due course and our Audit Committee will commission an independent review of its value for money. 

I have also addressed in detail five specific ‘demands’ that UCU and the survey organisers have made, in order to put the facts on record:

No compulsory redundancies – we were clear from the start of E&E and PAS that we would have a lower overall headcount but would minimise compulsory redundancies. As of the end of last week, as a result of PAS:

• 670 staff have been confirmed as remaining on their current grades – although they will be moved into new teams and divisions as required across the University;
• 88 staff have accepted voluntary redundancies. A further 20 have had voluntary redundancy offers made to them, pending acceptance. Fifteen applications for voluntary redundancies are being processed by HR. The voluntary redundancy package is up to nine months’ pay;
• 36 staff to date have not been matched into new roles - we expect the final compulsory redundancy numbers to be in the low tens; and
• there are 100 vacancies across the professional functions. If these roles are not recruited internally, they will be recruited externally.

No downgrading – as part of the PAS review, 13 staff have accepted roles at a lower pay grade and 14 have accepted roles at a higher grade. The review showed that staff across the University were performing the same roles but on different pay grades. It would be unfair and illegal to maintain a grade at a level that could not be justified, with reference to the duties required of the post. Staff who accepted a lower pay grade will retain their existing salary for six months, with their pay levels reviewed after 12 months. 

Suspend PAS pending feasibility analysis – We are in the final stages of PAS and will not be suspending it. The new PAS teams are being appointed and the implementation is already underway. PAS was based on a comprehensive review, followed by full consultation and now an implementation process. This included: 

• detailed activity analysis with 1,900 returns from professional and administrative staff, followed by more than 150 workshops open to UCU and other staff representatives to participate in;
• hundreds of hours of formal consultation, discussion and engagement with UCU and the Staff Forum since October 2015;
• detailed briefing for each PAS workstream published online, open briefings for each function being restructured; and
• scrutiny, testing and endorsement by all of the major decision-making bodies within the University – the University Council, the University Executive Board and the Strategy and Finance Committee. The Leadership Group (Heads of School, Heads of Functions and Deans) has had full sight of all of our proposals as they have developed.

It is now down to each workstream to set out specific implementation timetables to establish the new teams and phase in the new services to the wider University. If, and where needed, we will take additional measures to smooth the transition, as we set out in the case of teaching and learning support last month.

The overall E&E programme, running since 2013, has now been largely implemented. The new integrated IT service is in place. The new centrally-managed print operation is established. The new procurement arrangements have been rolled out. All of these measures are already saving the University significant sums.

Independent investigation of PAS process – the University Council will be reviewing the full E&E programme in the next 12 to 18 months, as it has agreed to do with all major projects. This is a sensible step with a programme of this size and scale. The University’s Audit Committee will be commissioning an independent review of the E&E programme’s value for money, to inform its oversight of the 2015-16 end-of-year Financial Statement.

End spending millions on management consultants – the Efficiency and Effectiveness programme is a one-off investment and there are no plans for major new consultancy contracts. We will continue to use smaller external consultancy contracts across our operation, from our major capital projects to building our digital infrastructure. 

We will continue to work with UCU (representing Grades 6 and above) and our independent Staff Forum (representing Grades 1 to 5), to identify and handle issues if they arise and keep lines of dialogue open.

Kindest regards.

Sir David Bell KCB