In the last academic year, the university moved to a new system of pay claims for Associate Lecturers (ALs). Under this system, instead of ALs claiming only for their face-to-face teaching hours and then having this number multiplied by 2.5, they are expected to claim for hours when they actually do the work (for example, they may claim one hour for teaching preparation in week 1, one hour for the actual face-to-face teaching in week 2, and ½ hour for marking in week 12).
These changes were made on the justifiable basis that the old system may not have been compliant with the Working Time Directive.
However, these changes clearly caused a lot of confusion for local work-planners, and ALs in some subject groups reported that they were having hours allocated on the basis of the Academic Work Planning Manual, which should only apply to teaching staff with defined hours (not Zero Hour Contract staff). In certain instances, this was leading to a reduction in pay for ALs.
Sheffield Hallam UCU has been raising these issues on behalf of our AL members for many months, and over that period have worked with Human Resources to get a number of cases resolved. We are pleased that the university has now issued new guidance, which we believe resolves the issues in a more wide-ranging way. It clarifies the fact that the 2.5 multiplier stipulated by national agreements remains in place for most forms of teaching activity, and also usefully provides examples of the very specific circumstances where the 2.5 may not apply.
See updated guidance here: https://sheffieldhallam.sharepoint.com/sites/3005/astaff/al/SitePages/paylevels.aspx