The Forum provided an opportunity for colleagues to ask questions about the proposed savings in professional services.
The Chief Operating Officer presented slides which outlined the financial position of the University and what this means for Professional Services. The slides also provide a timeline and process for the coming months. You can view them here.
The questions asked and the answers given are summarised below.
Of the £8m savings requirement, what proportion is expected to be delivered through non-pay efficiencies, and what proportion will need to come from pay-related savings?
Overall 85%+ of total savings across Professional Services are anticipated to be from non-pay and vacancies but this could vary by individual area.
Has the University considered shifts in its ways or working, such as only opening staff/admin buildings 3-4 days per week to save on energy costs and enable staff to work from home more often?
We are a 7 day-a-week operation and we need to be able to support students (e.g. providing meals) and various other activities that would make this difficult. We need a good balance with dynamic working, which we have at the moment. Closing buildings on certain days would not have enough of an impact to make a substantial difference, but the cost of energy is an ongoing issue and will need to be reviewed regularly.
Do you already know if there will be redundancies in specific areas or within specific groups?
No, proposals are being developed and details will be made available after Easter.
Will there be a voluntary redundancy scheme offered before a move to compulsory redundancy?
There will be no University-wide voluntary severance scheme. If potential redundancies are identified in areas with multiple similar roles, it is possible that voluntary redundancy will be offered to that group in the first instance.
Will consideration be given to the impact that losing roles will have on teams’ capacity to deliver core functions?
Yes, we need to reduce the amount of activity we support accordingly, given our finite resource base. Directors will work collaboratively to do this
What guidance is being issued for line managers?
HR are developing guidance which will be available through the University’s Policy Gateway. Union colleagues have inputted into this.
Could more than 30 people be affected by redundancy further down the line if other cost saving methods are not effective or we don’t meet our student recruitment target we need for next financial year?
We cannot rule it out, but other savings opportunities should be considered first to try and avoid this if at all possible.
How confident are you that we have done everything we can to make the savings needed before we move to compulsory redundancies?
We have done everything we reasonably can before moving to this step. A university wide vacancy freeze would remove resource in an un co-ordinated way and not help with concerns about capacity in teams to deliver.
Will fixed term contracts be renewed?
They will need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to determine business need.
Is there a way for colleagues to be involved, give support or be consulted in the Professional Services ‘operating model’ before decisions are made final?
Yes, we hope to engage colleagues with the Operating Model work as it develops. We will update you on how you can do this in the coming months.
Often colleagues identify barriers in their work that prevent things from getting done. Will there be a mechanism to feed this back to the University rather than just through managers?
Yes, both formally as part of consultation and the later work on the operating model. Managers will also need to invite that conversation with their teams.
Why aren’t Schools factored into the equation for savings?
Schools are. A proportionate part of the £8m saving is assumed from School Professional Services. Schools are currently looking at how they can also make savings and this will be factored into plans as we move forward.
Will finance flag unspent budget? Also, there is often push back against mandatory contracts, will that be reviewed and are they worth having?
Where the word mandatory is used, they should be mandatory. Contracts exist for a purpose and if there are any issues, they need to be escalated to the Finance team.
If a Professional Services colleague wants to take a secondment will their substantive position be backfilled?
We’re looking at more structured formal and informal ways to conduct secondments and how we would address backfill requirements going forwards.
As an institution, we’re good at coming up with new ideas, but perhaps not so good at pushing back or saying no. Are we confident that we will get better at this?
We have to - it’s not sustainable otherwise and we need to look at what we do to ensure that we are focused on our most pressing priorities. We might not be able to do everything that we have always done. There’s a challenge around colleagues who are thematically led and want to do new things and how we can support this within the Operating Model, we will need to work this through. Focusing on our strategic priorities will help us to shape this.
Looking forward are we looking to be more restrained and not expand PS too much so we don’t have to go through this process again?
We need to look beyond the immediate planning horizon and not bake in growth that we then reverse. As an example, we can look at how approaches such as secondments can help to provide a great opportunity for us to adjust and adapt to new opportunities while carrying less risk and adding permanently to the cost base.
As part of cost saving, would the University consider unpaid career breaks?
Colleagues can already apply to do this now and we can make that more explicit. The Annual Leave Purchase Scheme is also open to colleagues and can help with costs.
When the work on the Operating Model is done, how are we considering that changes in one area might impact another as well?
We need to be cognisant of the impact decisions have on other areas as we adapt and potentially stop doing things. It may not be possible for certain areas to do everything they previously did and this needs to be recognised.
Will compulsory redundancies affect all staff or just focus on particular grades?
All grades are in scope. The degree to which affected roles can be readily redeployed will differ from grade to grade.
Will there be parity between savings in Schools?
Any savings that happen in Schools will be proportionate to the staffing cost base for each individual area.