These minutes are for information only. Any corrections to the minutes
will be recorded in the minutes of the subsequent meeting of the Committee.
SOAS,
University of London
Joint
Negotiating & Consultative Committee – Minutes
2.30
pm on Tuesday 14th October 2014 in Room T102
Professor
Nadje Al-Ali, UCU Representative
Ms
Joanne Anthony, UNISON Representative **
Mr
Graeme Appleby, Director of Finance & Planning *
Professor
Richard Black, Pro-Director (Research & Enterprise) (Chair)
Ms
Maxine Brown, UNISON Representative *
Professor
Matthew Craven, Dean of Faculty, L&SS
Mr
Johnny Darlington, UCU Representative
Dr
Wayne Dooling, Head of Department of History *
Mr
Barry Douglas, Assistant Director of Finance ***
Ms
Laura Gibbs, Registrar
Ms
Carol John, UCU Representative
Mr
Peter Mitchell, Director of HR
Mr
Sandy Nicoll, UNISON Representative
Ms
Seema Sanyal (Secretary), HR Manager
Mr
Harry Stephens, UNISON Representative
Ms
Ruth Levin, UNISON Regional Officer *
Mr
Andy Young, UCU Regional Officer
*Those
whose names are marked with an asterisk were unable to attend the meeting
**Attending
on behalf of Ms Maxine Brown
***
Attending on behalf of Mr Graeme Appleby
1.
Nominations for Chairs for
the 2014/15 session
The Committee NOTED that the JNCC Constitution requires
the Chairperson for each meeting to be nominated alternately by the Union side
and the Management (Employer’s) side. It was AGREED that Professor Richard
Black would chair this first meeting and the meeting on 11th June 2015, and
that Professor Nadje Al-Ali would chair the meeting on 13th March 2015.
2. Remit
of the JNCC
i)
Terms of
reference for the JNCC
The meeting NOTED that the terms of reference are effectively
set out in Section 7 of the SOAS Trade Union Recognition and Procedural Agreements.
ii) To agree the role of
the HR/TU Joint Interest Group (JIG)
The meeting NOTED that the JIG meetings were held on
a monthly basis to discuss informally policy development and other items of
interest. It was AGREED that the JIG meetings would continue as before and feed
policy items to the JNCC for approval, and that the JNCC would refer items to
the JIG as necessary. The Committee AGREED to review the relationship and
working arrangements between the JNCC and the JIG at the next meeting. The
Committee NOTED that other working groups would be set up as necessary, for
example on London Weighting negotiations.
Items for
Information
3. Finance & Planning Director’s
update
Mr Barry Douglas, Assistant Director of Finance
presented a verbal report. The meeting NOTED that a deficit of £516,000 had
been forecast for 2013/14 in February 2014, and that an actual deficit figure
of £396,000 was shown in the early draft of the financial statements passed to
the Schools’ auditors. It was noted that the actual deficit may change during
the course of the audit.
The meeting NOTED that the School had received
research grants totalling £4.3 million and that over £5 million had been spent
on capital projects. A sizeable proportion of the capital expenditure was on the
North Block of Senate House project but there was also expenditure on the
School’s ageing infrastructure, including ventilation on the Phillips Building
(£1.4m).
The meeting NOTED that, that in June 2014 the
School’s Governing Body had agreed a 2014/15 budget with a deficit of £0.3
million. It was further NOTED that the School had not met its 2014/15
recruitment targets and that, after allowing for the tuition fee contingency of
(£1,150,000), this was estimated to result in a net fee shortfall of around £1.3
million for 2014/15. In addition, the meeting NOTED that £0.5 million savings
would be made by not recruiting to all of the additional academic posts bid for
in the 2014/15 Faculty Plans and not undertaking some of the additional
activities set out in the Professional Services Plans for 2014/15.
The meeting DISCUSSED the need to improve on
converting offers of places to students into actual admissions, for example,
through earlier and more regular contact with applicants, and the need for more
realistic targets for those admissions.
It was AGREED that a written report from the Finance
& Planning Directorate would be provided in advance of future JNCC
meetings.
4. Shared Services Update
Mr
Barry Douglas, Assistant Director of Finance presented a verbal report. The
meeting NOTED that only two parties remained interested in sharing services –
SOAS and the University of London, and that a meeting of the working group
would be held in November 2014 to discuss three options, with a view to
implementation in Summer 2015:-
i) Shared Services (that is, a cost
sharing agreement);
ii) Joint procurement with separate
contracts;
iii) Joint procurement with a joint
contract.
The
meeting NOTED UNISON’s concern that the extension of current contracts over the
allowable period has put the School at risk and the proposal that fresh
consideration should be given to bringing the outsourced contracts in house.
The
meeting further NOTED that the working group was fulfilling the brief from
Governing Body and that, should the outcome be that none of the three options
are considered viable, the issue would have to be referred back to Governing
Body.
5. HR Director’s Report
The HR Director, Mr Peter Mitchell presented his report.
The meeting NOTED the Pulse Survey results and the importance of local action
plans. The meeting DISCUSSED the business partner model for HR, the planned
review of Occupational Health services and the possibility of further dips in
the HE benchmark scores resulting from any future pension disputes.
The meeting NOTED that the UCU Executive had agreed the new Sickness
Absence Management Policy, and that it was due to be considered at the next UNISON
executive meeting.
Items for Consultation
6. Review of the Academic Development
Directorate (ADD)
The Registrar, Ms Laura
Gibbs presented her consultation report setting out proposals to restructure
and re-site the ADD following the resignation of the ADD Director, and to
rename the Student & Registry Services Directorate to ‘Academic Service
Directorate’. It was NOTED that this
constituted the Stage 3 “in confidence” discussions with the unions in advance
of formal consultation, under the School’s “Management of Re-organisation and
Change” policy and procedures.
The meeting NOTED that
the report encapsulated suggestions made by ADD staff at an away day, and that
all of the ADD staff had been consulted, either at the away day or at individual
meetings.
UCU expressed concern
that the proposals appeared to be a ‘fait accompli’ which left no room for genuine
consultation. The meeting NOTED that the ADD staff had had significant input
and that the proposals had changed significantly over time. It was AGREED that
any major changes to the proposals following the School-wide consultation would
be referred back to UCU and UNISON; otherwise progress would be reported back
at the JIG.
7. Academic Performance
Framework
The Pro-Director
(Research & Enterprise), Richard Black reported that work on formulating an
Academic Performance Framework, which had stalled following a positive meeting
with UCU in February 2014, would recommence with the establishment of working
groups to focus on Probation, Promotion, Performance Management and Reward.
The meeting NOTED that a brief meeting would be arranged to allocate participants
to an appropriate working group, bearing in mind gender and role balance within
the groups. It was AGREED that the notes of the last meeting would be re-circulated
to members of the working group.
Update on Current Negotiations / Related
Issues
8. London Weighting
Allowance
The Pro-Director (Research & Enterprise), Richard Black proposed
that the first negotiation meeting be held on 28th October. The
meeting NOTED that this date would be problematic because of half-term and
AGREED that an alternative date be sought.
9. Fractional
staff contracts
The meeting NOTED that
the informal meeting planned for 15th October had been cancelled and
further NOTED UCU’s concern that the new clause (14.2) included in Fractional
Teachers’ contracts regarding breaches of contract had angered their members as
well as the Fractional teachers.
The meeting NOTED that the new contractual clause had been
included in the 2014/15 contracts by the School in order to make an implied
term explicit, as a response to the ‘wildcat’ industrial action in 2013/14. The
Pro-Director (Research & Enterprise), Richard Black, NOTED UCU’s concern
and AGREED that this clause would be deleted in future contracts.
It was NOTED that 275 fractional teaching contracts
had already been signed and returned to indicate agreement to the terms for
2014/15. It was further NOTED that a UCU motion on fractional teaching concerns had been passed
at their meeting on 8th October and it was AGREED that UCU would
write to Pro-Director
(Research & Enterprise), Richard Black, to set out outstanding issues to
address, in the hope that a JNCC sub-group could be formed to conduct discussions.
10. Pensions
The meeting NOTED that
the School had been consulted on the initial USS proposals, and had not provided
a supportive response. The meeting further NOTED that no formal proposal had
yet been made by USS and, therefore the School had yet to take a view.
SOAS, UNIVERSITY OF
LONDON
Joint Negotiating & Consultative Committee
Tuesday 14th
October
ACTION POINTS
|
Minute
|
Action
|
Deadline
|
By
|
Status
|
|
2 ii
|
Review the
relationship and working arrangements between the JNCC and the JIG
|
March 2015
|
RB/
NA
|
|
|
3
|
Provide a
written report on Finance in advance of the next and future JNCC meetings
|
March 2015
|
GA/
BD
|
|
|
6
|
Refer any major
changes to the ADD change proposals following the School-wide consultation to
UCU and UNISON (or if no major changes, report progress at the JIG)
|
Mid-November 2014
|
SS/
Chris
Byrne (HR)
|
|
|
7
|
Re-circulate the
notes of the last Academic Performance Working Group meeting to Working Group
members
|
30 November 204
|
RB/
PM
|
|
|
8
|
Arrange dates
for London Weighting Negotiation meeting(s)
|
31 October 2014
|
SS
|
|
|
9
|
Remove clause
14.2 from Fractional teaching contract
|
3 November 2014
|
PM
/ Emily Crofts (HR)
|
|
|
9
|
Forward
outstanding Fractional Contract issues to Richard Black
|
3 November 2014
|
AY
|
|
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