Temporary Contracts

The College has three sorts of temporary contract for:

  1. Hourly-paid Teaching Assistants;
  2. Temporary staff on time-sheets;
  3. Temporary or part-year staff who are not on time-sheets.

“Temporary contracts” is the name the College uses for short-term fixed-term contracts. The maximum period for a temporary contract varies:

  • contracts for hourly paid Teaching Assistants must not extend beyond 1 academic year; 
  • all other temporary contracts must not normally extend beyond 6 months.

Since they are for a short duration, the College demands less onerous approval and administrative processes than for its permanent and fixed-term contracts.

Thus:

  • the Head of Department (as opposed to more senior staff) can approve the business case for the role;
  • approval is still required from the Finance Department;
  • there is no requirement that the post be openly advertised; or that there is a job profile; or that there is a person specification; or that the job is graded using the job evaluation scheme;
  • recruitment must be lawful but is not monitored for equalities issues by the HR Department;
  • the employing department issues the contract (though close liaison with the HR Department is required if the employee is to be put on the payroll);
  • the department (as opposed to HR) carries out Border Agency checks on the applicant’s eligibility to work in the UK, and supplies documentary evidence of this to the HR Department.

People on “temporary” contracts have all the legal protection that applies to staff employed on a fixed-term contract. It is unlawful to treat them less favourably than comparable permanent staff, and if they are given successive contracts, they can claim permanence after 4 years in post. 

However, if the employee's continuous service is less than 1 year, the employing department is not required to follow a formal dismissal procedure when the contract expires.