|
UCL unilaterally changes redundancy payments scheme to severe detriment of staff with 5 or more years service UCL Senior Reps to meet with HR. The Branch Chair, Secretary and Vice-Chair will be discussing this issue (and several others) with UCL HR in a meeting at 11am on Thursday 8th February. UCL Redundancy Pay Calculator added - click here for spreadsheet UCL Members Condemn Redundancy Pay Changes - Motion passed unanimously Links To Sections on This Page In
a move guaranteed to reduce the morale of long-serving employees even further,
UCL have unilaterally changed their redundancy payments scheme in a way that
will cause the large majority of staff severe detriment. This
comes at a time when UCL are making nearly 400 permanent posts redundant under
the Provost's "Regeneration Plan". In addition to this further posts
are being shed as a result of Departmental and Faculty "reviews" and
"restructuring". Most of the staff in the posts being shed have been with UCL for many years. It is these staff who
will be affected by the changes. Under
the old scheme, employees would receive the following payments if they were
made redundant: Under
the new scheme, the payment will be 1.5 times the statutory redundancy payment
(number of weeks as before, weekly pay capped at £290pw, rising to £310pw from These
changes will be detrimental to all staff with 10 or more years
service, and staff on Grade 6 or above with 5 or more years service. The
detriment gets worse as salary and length of service increase. There will
be a small benefit for staff with less than 5 years service, but at most this
will be £580 (£620 from 01 Feb 2007). We have provided some worked examples at
the bottom of this page. Particularly
galling is the effect that this will have on staff who could take early retirement
on grounds of redundancy. As they would almost all have 10 or more years
service, they will suffer quite large detriment if made redundant. For someone
with 20 or more years of service, their redundancy lump sum under the old
scheme would have been enough to buy 3 or 4 additional years of contributions
to their pension scheme. Under the new scheme they would be lucky if they could
buy more than one year. All
three trade unions at UCL are shocked at this, and have
written jointly to
Sarah Brant, HR Director, complaining and requesting an urgent meeting. UCL
Amicus are opposed to all compulsory redundancies and will support all members
who wish to fight any redundancy proposal involving them.
No Negotiation,
Consultation Nor Even
Notification UCL
have made these changes without negotiating, or having meaningful consultation,
with the trade unions. They did not even have the common courtesy to inform us
that they were making the changes. We only discovered the changes due to cases
involving UCU and UNISON members. UCL
are arguing that there was no need to negotiate or consult with the trade
unions as the old scheme was "non-contractual". We dispute this. The
scheme had been operated consistently and automatically over a period of
several years. It was well known to the trade unions and was widely known
throughout UCL. As such, it had become an implied term, acquired through custom
and practice. Therefore, any changes should have been negotiated.
UCL
are arguing that the changes were required to comply with the Employment
Equality (Age Discrimination) Regulations which came into effect on 1 October
last year. This is untrue. Under
the regulations, any benefit acquired after 5 or fewer years
service is exempt. There was no requirement to remove the lifting of the
cap on weekly pay for the calculations. Benefits
that require more than 5 years service to acquire are allowed if the employer
can justify them objectively. Such a justification can include rewarding
loyalty or experience, or retaining experienced staff. This was the reason for
the doubling of actual weekly pay for staff with 10 or more years
service under the old scheme. There was no requirement to axe the
doubling of weekly pay for long serving staff. The
only requirement placed on UCL by the regulations was to remove the upper and
lower age limits for eligibility.
If Not The Age
Discrimination Regs, Why
Change The Scheme? We
can only speculate as to UCL's real reasons for doing
this. Several possibilities have been mooted.
Of
course, there could be other reasons. Any suggestions or information, please
email them to us at
amicus@ucl.ac.uk. What Are The Unions
Doing About This? As
stated above, the trade unions have written to Sarah Brant requesting an urgent
meeting. Our hope is that we can negotiate a return to the old scheme, or an
acceptable alternative. We would aim to improve on the old scheme if this was
possible. We would also seek to retain the improved payments to staff who
benefit under the new scheme. If
talks are refused or are unsuccessful, it may be necessary to pursue the
dispute through industrial action which may or may not include strike action.
If this is the case, all members at UCL will be balloted by the union and we
will be recommending a vote in favour. Industrial action is always the last
resort. Our hope is always that disputes can be resolved without it.
* Inclusive of London Weighting |