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HR Archived News

newsThis page of the HR website details archived HR news which may be of interest to staff.

This page will be updated on a periodic basis.

Please click on the news item below for further information:

Voluntary Severance, Early Retirement and Flexible Working (posted September 2010)

Reductions in public spending announced by the Government are likely to mean the College's income from public sector funding streams will decline year on year until 2013/2014.

Following the Principals announcement, staff will all be aware that a number of measures are being taken to reduce staff expenditure and generate income. For more information, please click here.

Appointment of Principal (posted August 2010)

A new section of the HR website has been created to keep staff informed of progress with the search for the College’s new Principal. Since the resignation of Professor Quintin McKellar much work has already been done to ensure the search gets off to the best possible start.For more information, please click here.

Approval of Single Equality Scheme (posted July 2010)

In preparation for the introduction of the Equality Act (2010) in October 2010, the Equality Strategy Group (ESG) is pleased to announce that the Single Equality Scheme and Action Plan has now received final approval by the College Council at its June meeting. Please visit the Single Equality Scheme page to download the Scheme and Action Plan.

Changes to HR Team (posted June 2010)

With effect from 1 June, the Payroll Team will be moving from Finance based in Camden, to HR based in the Eclipse Building at Hawkshead. This means that all staff queries on pay and contractual issues can now be dealt with from a single point, under the management of Cindy Pike, Assistant Director of HR.

Please click here for an up to date HR Team Organsiation Chart.

Review of USS Pension Scheme (posted May 2010)

USS Trustees will soon be making decisions about the future of USS, which could have an important impact on benefits and contributions for existing and future members of the scheme.  A new section of the HR website has been created to provide information about the Review of USS, and to keep staff updated on progress.  If you are a member of USS, please make some time to look through it.

Single Equality Scheme (posted April 2010)

In preparation for the introduction of the Equality Act (2010) in October 2010, the College has developed a draft Single Equality Scheme and Action Plan through the Equality Strategy Working Group. The draft Scheme and Action Plan has been approved by the Colleges Senior Management Group and will now be presented to the College Council in June for final approval. Please visit the Single Equality Scheme page to download the draft Scheme and Action Plan.

Learning at Work Day 2010 (posted April 2010)

National Learning at Work Day 2010 will take place on 20th May as part of Adult Learners Week. The biggest annual celebration of workplace learning, will take place at our Hawkshead campus.

The theme this year is  ‘Creating Connections’ . The theme highlights the links between different types of learning such as informal and formal learning and the benefits of bringing people together to learn from each other.

More information about what's on offer, please visit the Learning at Work Day webpage.

Travel Restrictions due to closure of UK Airspace (posted April 2010)

Thankfully the travel restrictions of the past few days are now being lifted, but clearly it will be some time yet before all those affected are able to return to work. The Senior Management Group (SMG) has considered the issue, and very much appreciates the effort people have made to get back to work in these exceptional circumstances. The SMG also believes that decisions about how to deal with un-planned absence caused by the restrictions are best managed locally. Options that can be considered include:

  • affected staff taking the full period as additional paid leave
  • taking a proportion as additional paid leave and the rest as annual or unpaid leave
  • making up the time on return to work
  • working remotely until able to return to work

Those staff stranded abroad after travelling on College business should not be expected to take leave to cover the period of their absence.

Staff/Managers can contact a member of the HR Operations team for further guidance.

Rewarding Staff (posted March 2010)

Following consultation across the College during 2008 and 2009, the College has decided to introduce three locally determined flexible schemes to supplement the pay spine, and which can be used for specific purposes. These are: an Extended Salary Range Scheme, a Special Award Scheme and a Recognition Scheme. For more information, please visit the following page: Rewarding Staff  

HR Strategy 2009 - 2011 (posted February 2010)

The College's HR Strategy is to recruit, reward, develop and retain the best possible staff locally, nationally and internationally, in order to achieve its mission and enhance its commercial success and reputation as a world class centre of academic excellence.

To view the full strategy, please visit the HR Strategy webpage.

Launch of Single Equality Scheme Questionnaire (posted January 2010)

In preparation for the introduction of the Single Equality Bill in 2010, the College is currently developing a Single Equality Scheme through the Equality Strategy Working Group. The bill aims to make UK organisations (especially public authorities such as Universities) more transparent as well as harmonising the various current equality strands into one single piece of legislation.

Staff, students, clients and visitors have important roles to play in ensuring that equality issues are driven forward at the College and therefore we would like for you to engage with us.

Following the drop in sessions held in December 2009 and earlier this month, we have developed a short questionnaire to enable you to contribute to this important development.To complete the questionnaire, please visit the Single Equality Scheme page.

National Pay Negotiations - Update (posted January 2010)

The negotiations between the HE employers’ organisation (UCEA) and the unions about this year’s pay award (09/10) which was due last August - have now come to an end. 

UCEA made a final offer of a 0.5% pay increase, along with a commitment to work with the unions on a range of issues including financial sustainability, pay structures, equality and staff development in July.  All the unions have now either formally accepted this offer or accepted it in practice by noting the conclusion of the negotiations.

Please visit the Salary Scale page to download the updated salary scale.

Quarterly Induction Afternoon (posted January 2010)

We would like to invite all new members of staff at the College to attend our Quarterly Induction Afternoon on Thursday 21st January in the Council Room, Hawkshead Campus from 12.30pm.

There are three stages to the afternoon:

1. Lunch with new and established colleagues – 45 minutes

2. A tour of the campus – 45 minutes (Optional)

3. Induction surgery – picking up on practical matters relating to the Induction Handbook and developmental issues relating to the Induction Workbook - 1 hour (Optional)


For further information on this session and to book your place, please contact Jenny Bushell in Human Resources on extension 6447 or by email jbushell@rvc.ac.uk. For catering purposes, please confirm your attendance by no later than Tuesday 19th January.

Online Shortlisting Goes Live (posted January 2010)

Online Short-listing is the next exciting development of the Colleges Online Recruitment System.

We are pleased to confirm that the online shortlisting element of the system went 'live' on 11th January 2010. Managers who have not seen the new system or did not attend the training sessions held in 2009 should contact a member of staff in HR (Recruitment) for guidance.

For more information, access details and to download the guidance notes, please refer to the Online Shortlisting page or contact a member of staff in the HR (Recruitment) team.

Religion & Belief and Sexual Orientation Policies (posted December 2009)

The Equality Strategy Working Group is pleased to announce that the Religion & Belief and Sexual Orientation Policies that were developed following consultation with staff and students earlier this year have been approved by the Senior Management Group and the College Council.

The current policies can be seen by clicking on the following links (these policies are also available to download by visiting the Equality and Diversity section of the HR Website):


We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the development of the policies.

Single Equality Scheme (posted December 2009)

In preparation for the introduction of the Single Equality Bill in 2010, the College is currently developing a Single Equality Scheme through the Equality Strategy Working Group. The bill aims to make UK organisations (especially public authorities such as Universities) more transparent as well as harmonising the various current equality strands into one single piece of legislation.

The Single Equality Scheme will enable us to draw together the various equality policies and schemes with the aim of ensuring equality for all who come into contact with the College, whether they are staff, students, clients or visitors and regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, religion, belief or sexual orientation.

For more details, please visit the Single Equality Scheme page.

Online Shortlisting (posted November 2009)

Online Short-listing is the next exciting development of the Colleges Online Recruitment System.

The system will go 'live' in early January 2010 and therefore it is important that as many recruiting managers as possible are trained on the system and to ensure a smooth transition, we have set up training/refresher sessions. We would strongly encourage all those who may be involved in shortlisting to attend. The training is essential to gain a full understanding of the system and avoid any problems or delays in the process arising once the system goes live.

For training dates, please refer to the Online Shortlisting page or contact a member of staff in the HR (Recruitment) team for guidance.

Annual Review (posted November 2009)

The Annual Review of staff will take place on Thursday 10th December 2009. The Reveiw Committee will consider individual applications for academic promotions as well as proposals for one-off payments to staff based on merit.

The committee will not be considering support staff grading issues. Employees who feel their role has grown in size, should contact their line manager to discuss possible re-grading via job evaluation.

The deadline for receipt of completed applications has now passed.

For more details, please visit the Annual Review page.

National Pay Negotiations (Posted November 2009)

The national negotiations between UCEA (Universities' & Colleges' Employers Association) and the trade unions about the 2009 pay award (which was due in August) are continuing.  UCEA made a 'final' offer of 0.5% in July, and the unions all consulted their members about this during the summer. 

Discussions about the way foward have been taking place over autumn at ACAS, but no firm conclusion has yet been reached.  UCEA have offered to work with the unions on a number of pay related issues such as equal pay and financial sustainability, but they do not intend to increase the 0.5% offer because of the limited scope for doing so in the current economic climate. 

There will be further updates on the pay award as the situation develops, and when it is finally agreed, it will be implemented and backdated to 1 August 2009.

For further information, please contact a member of HR staff in the HR (Operations and Reward) team.


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Launch of new Equality and Diversity Online Training (Posted October 2009)

Human Resources are pleased to announce the launch of a new web based Equality and Diversity Training package, following a review of the Equality and Diversity Training on offer at the College for staff.

New starters and managers (who must complete the courses within 6 months of joining the College) will be pre-registered on the relevant course(s) and access/login details will be sent by Staff Training & Development via email.

Further information is available on the Equality & Diversity Web based Training page.

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Launch of RVC Induction Programme (Posted October 2009)

In preparation for the new RVC Induction programme being launched, we have arranged two launch days for College staff. We will be holding presentations to give all staff involved with new starters, details of the Induction programme and the opportunity to view the materials which will be provided to all new employees.  

Further information on these presentations is available on the Induction pages.

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Christmas 2010— College Closure Dates (posted Nov 2010)

Christmas/New Year college closure dates for 2010/11 are as follows:-

Friday 24th December 2010 – Concessionary Day
Monday 27th December 2010 – Bank Holiday
Tuesday 28th December 2010 – Bank Holiday
Wednesday 29th December 2010 – Concessionary Day
Thursday 30th December 2010 – Concessionary Day
Friday 31st December 2010 – Concessionary Day
Monday 3rd January 2011 – Bank Holiday


The college will therefore close at 5pm on Thursday 23rd December 2010 and re-open on Tuesday 4th January 2011.As some departments remain operational over Christmas and New Year, there will be a need for some staff to work during this period.

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Swine Flu (Posted June 2009)

In the event that you or someone with whom you are in close contact is suspected, or has been confirmed as having swine flu, you must remain at home and contact your line manager as soon as possible. Employees with young children of school age are particularly at risk as the majority of swine flu cases are occurring among children less than 15 years of age.

You should not return to work on site for at least five calendar days from the start of symptoms, or in the case of household, five days from the start of symptoms of the last person infected.

Further information for staff and details on which forms to complete can be found on the Swine Flu page.

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Religion & Belief and Sexual Orientation draft policies (Posted June 2009)

Staff and students may have noticed recent press coverage about a new Equality Bill 2009 currently progressing through Parliament. This is due to come into force next year and will replace all equality legislation currently in place.

In preparation for the Bill, the College is developing 2 new policies on Religion & Beliefs and Sexual Orientation. Please visit the A to Z page to download the draft policies.

Further information is available on the Equality and Diversity page

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Employment of Migrant Workers (Posted May 2009)

Under the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act (2006) employers have a responsibility to prevent illegal immigrants working or studying in their organisations.

On 29 February 2008, the UK Government introduced new legislation for the prevention of illegal working which applies to individuals who commence employment on or after 29 February 2008. .

Please visit the Employing Migrant Workers page for further information.

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HR have moved offices (Posted April 2009)

We have moved offices and are now based in the Eclipse building (room S2 on the second floor). Telephone extensions remain as they are. Note, the Director of HR's office (which includes Staff Training & Development) is situated on the first floor of the Eclipse bulding.For contact details, please refer to the Meet The Team page.

Recruitment Service Level Agreement

The SLA was agreed by the Senior Management Group on 10 November 2008.  Please refer to it for advice on the recruitment process and timeframes - Service Level Agreement (Recruitment).

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Salary Scale - October 2008 (Posted October 2008)

Following the decision made at SMG to implement the increase to salaries in October, the revised salary scale is now available to download - October 2008 Salary Scale.

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Online Staff Request Form (Posted October 2008)

The Online Staff Request Form is now available to use. Please visit the authorising a vacancy page on the Staff Recruitment section for details on how to access the form and download user guidelines.
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Online Staff Training Application Form (Posted October 2008)

The Online Staff Training Application form (OSTAF) is now available to use with immediate effect. The OSTAF has been developed to enable members of staff to book a place on a training course in an efficient and effective manner.For more details, please visit How to Book onto a Training Course.

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Staff Recruitment Forms (Posted October 2008)

The following staff recruitment forms have now been added to HR Forms: Job Description (Standard Format), Person Specification (Standard Format), Shortlisting grid, Interview Questions, Interview Assessment Form and Recruitment Decision Sheet. Click on A to Z Forms and Policies to download or visit the Staff Recruitment page for more information.

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Policy Review

Human Resources have been working hard to update the College’s employment policies. Currently, the Research Misconduct and the Dignity at Work policies have been reviewed and agreed by way of consultation between the College and the JNCC. We are working towards updating various other policies including Disciplinary and Dismissal, Grievance as well as Absence which we hope will be agreed in the near future.

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Management Toolkits

Human Resources have developed a series of 'Toolkits' to help managers by providing hands-on support and guidance in dealing with day to day management issues efficiently and effectively.

For more information about the toolkit programme please visit the Management Toolkits page. Further toolkits will also be produced covering areas such as Probation, Diversity and Absence Management during 2008.

If you are looking for general news about the RVC, please visit the College Website or the College Intranet Homepage.

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