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COVID-19 Career Support Scheme

Launch of new Equity and Inclusion-focused UCL COVID-19 Career Support Scheme    

As England enters a new lockdown today (5th November 2020), UCL is launching a new COVID-19 Career Support Scheme. The scheme is an equity and inclusion-based response to the understanding that the pandemic has impacted individuals in our community differently. For some, it may have exacerbated existing social or career-related inequalities or created new ones. 

The purpose of the scheme is to mitigate adverse impact caused by the pandemic that results in lost work productivity that may cause longer term career harm without additional support from UCL.  

The scheme opens today and these are the forthcoming deadlines for the receipt of applications to the fund:

  • 5pm 19th November 2020 
  • 5pm 3rd December 2020 
  • 5pm 7th January 2021  
  • 5pm 21st January 2021  
  • 5pm 4th February 2021
  • 5pm 18th February 2021

Applicants must be able to state how the support provided through this scheme will provide a short-term boost to regaining any lost career momentum that has been caused by the pandemic.  

The scheme will distribute £500,000 of funds or support to staff and will be allocated on a needs-based basis, with the aim of directly benefiting those members of staff whose career has been most affected. 

The scheme has three different streams:

  1. Giving Back Time – this stream gives successful applicants a payment of up to £500 to provide a short-term boost to their work capacity by alleviating other personal pressures. For example, an award could be used to pay for additional child-related expenses over and above usual arrangements thereby ‘giving back time’ to the recipient.   
  2. Equity Bridging Fund – provides substantial grants of up to £10,000 (averaging £5,000) to support award holders with their work. This can be through salary costs via extensions to contracts or increasing hours for part-time staff if required and applies to any staff group. For researchers, priority will be given to those who have not received any COVID-19 mitigation support. 
  3. Supporting Teaching, Technical, Research, Academic and Professional Services (STTRAP) – provides funds to pay for workers engaged through UniTemps at UCL to support UCL staff with their work. Applicants can apply for either 20 or 40 hours of support. Payments and administration will be managed centrally. 

Staff should read the full guidance carefully before submitting an application to the scheme.

The scheme is being managed by the Equality Diversity and Inclusion Team in the Office of the Provost, and a Steering Group chaired by Prof Sara Mole, Provost’s Envoy for Gender Equality, will help decide on the fair and impactful distribution of funds.