Archaeology Pay Scales

Dear Mr Fanshaw,

 

Ref.  Freedom of Information Act 2000  -  Request for Information

 

I write to acknowledge receipt of your below request, dated 2^nd June 2010
, made under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please note the effective date of the request, i.e. date of receipt of
your request by the University of Leicester for processing, is 2^nd June
2010 and that the latest date by which the University must respond under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is 29^th June 2010 (after
making allowance for the Bank Holiday).

I will arrange for the information to which you are entitled under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 to be supplied to you as soon as
reasonably possible, and in any event within the period set out by the
Act.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries regarding the
above.

 

Yours sincerely,

Henry

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Henry Stuart

Information Security Manager

IT Services

University of Leicester

Prospect House

94 Regent Road

Leicester, LE1 7DA

(0116) 229 7946

[email address]

University of Leicester - Times Higher Education University of the Year
2008

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Dear Mr Fanshaw,

I'm aware that the deadline for responding to your request has now expired and I sincerely apologise for this delay. I am still attempting to collate all of the information you have asked for and will endeavour to have a response with you as soon as possible. I do hope that this delay will not inconvenience you too greatly.

Please call if you'd like to discuss.

Kind regards,

Henry

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Henry Stuart

Information Security Manager
IT Services
Prospect House
94 Regent Road
University of Leicester

(0116) 229 7946
[email address]

Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Fanshaw,

Ref.  Freedom of Information Act 2000  -  Request for information

I write on behalf of the University of Leicester in response to your
request below, dated 2^nd June, made under the provisions of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000. 

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your request. 
It required the collection of a lot of information and input from multiple
parties.  Once this process was completed and the University had fully
considered your request, it had to conduct a public interest test because
a qualified exemption has been applied.  This is a time-consuming process
which the Information Commissioner’s Office allows extra time (over the
usual 20 working day statutory limit for response) to complete.  I
sincerely hope that this delay has not inconvenienced you too greatly.

1. I attach a spreadsheet detailing the University’s single pay
spine.  Most of the staff in question come under this, including
University of Leicester Archaeology Services (ULAS) staff.  The exception
is professorial staff who do not sit on a pay scale but receive a set of
individual ad hoc salaries determined by the Vice-Chancellor and
Remunerations Committee.

2. The University pays a Head of Department allowance which is determined
by the Vice-Chancellor and Remunerations Committee.

3. Staff on grade 6 and above are not normally entitled to overtime
payment as they are on indeterminate hours.  All staff on grades 4 and 5
are classed as technical and are subject to the overtime procedures
outlined here:
[1]http://www.le.ac.uk/personnel/docs/overt... .

Policy regarding sick pay is detailed here:
[2]http://www.le.ac.uk/personnel/jobevaluat... .

Please let me know if you have trouble accessing the documents I have
linked to and I can try another method of provision.

4. Staff in Grades 1-5 may, if they wish, contribute to the University of
Leicester Stakeholder Pension Scheme (Friends Provident).  The current
contribution breakdown is as shown in the table below. The employee has
the choice of one of four rates and the employer contributes accordingly.

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| |% |% |% |% |
|------------------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--|
|Employee |3 |4 |5 |6 |
|------------------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--|
|University Group Life Assurance/PHI*, paid by the University|3 |3 |3 |3 |
|------------------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--|
|University Pension Contribution |3 |5 |7 |9 |
|------------------------------------------------------------+--+--+--+--|
|University total contribution |6 |8 |10|12|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

*PHI = Permanent Health Insurance

Staff in Grades 6 and above are eligible to contribute to the Universities
Superannuation Scheme (USS) if they wish.  The current contribution rate
for USS is 6.35% employee and 16% employer.

Prior to 01/08/03 eligible staff in Grades 1 to 6 could contribute to the
University of Leicester Pension and Assurance Scheme. The scheme closed to
new entrants on 31/07/03 and was replaced by the University of Leicester
Stakeholder Pension Scheme with effect from 01/08/03.

The University ran a job evaluation exercise a few years ago and used the
Hay scheme.  You have requested provision of the score for each of the
grades in the pay scale.  The University believes that this information
is exempt from release by virtue of Section 43 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (Commercial interests).  Please see below for the
application of the Section 43 exemption and the required public interest
test.

You also asked for details of where on the pay scale staff with different
job titles sit.  The University believes that this, coupled with other
information which you could likely find, would enable salary details of
individual members of staff to be deduced.  This amounts to the personal
data of these members of staff and the University believes it is exempt
from providing this information, in most instances, by virtue of Section
40(3)(a)(i) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 as to release it would
breach the first data protection principle.

The exception here is for staff of a sufficient level of seniority.  In
accordance with guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO) the University believes that only the Head of the School of
Archaeology and Ancient History is of a sufficient level of seniority to
require the release of information relating to their salary.  According
to ICO guidance a salary band should be provided and not an exact
salary.  As such I can confirm that the holder of this position receives
a salary of between £80,001 - £90,000 including the Head of Department
allowance. 

Application of the Section 43 exemption – Commercial interests

After careful consideration and as required by the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, the University of Leicester has formed the opinion that some of
the information you have requested access to is exempt from disclosure
under Section 43 of the legislation (Commercial interests). This
comprises the scores applied to each grade on the University’s single
pay scale utilised in the Hay job evaluation exercise undertaken by the
University.

The University believes that releasing this information into the public
domain could compromise the integrity of the whole job evaluation process,
even though this has now been completed.  This is critical if the
University is to successfully operate a fair and efficient pay system that
is free from bias.  The University has received advice stating that
release of the points scores could lead to ‘grade drift’, whereby a
tendency arises for staff to perceive their job as deserving of a higher
grade, compromising the objectivity of the evaluation process.  This can
lead to a mistrust of the system and processes underpinning the assessment
of roles and grading decisions, and encourage further appeals or legal
challenges (even though the appeals window has been exhausted).  Employee
relations are likely to be damaged and this can significantly undermine
the effective functioning of the whole organisation.   

The grading structure and pay arrangement of the University are a source
of competitive advantage with respect to attracting and retaining staff in
the region and within the Higher Education sector.  Disclosure of grade
boundaries relative to Hay points scores (the most widely used evaluation
system in the UK for purposes of determining pay grades) will erode this
advantage.

These factors would prove detrimental to the University’s commercial
interests.  Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 Universities are
designated as public authorities. They are obligated to manage and
spend public funds both judiciously and expediently. Having given
consideration to these issues, it has been concluded that if the
University were to disclose the information requested, it is likely to
prove prejudicial to both the current and future financial management and
strategy of the University and disadvantage its market position. Release
of the requested information could prejudice the University’s position
regarding its staff and the application of a successful, objective job
evaluation process, as well as regarding its competitor institutions,
hampering its commercial position and ensuring that public funds are not
utilized in the most efficient way possible.

Release of the requested information would prove prejudicial to the
commercial interests of the University, its operational efficiency and the
expedient use of public funds; therefore, it is concluded that the case
for maintaining the exemption, as detailed under Section 43 of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information.

This completes the University of Leicester's response to your Freedom of
Information request.  If you have any concerns or wish to complain about
any aspect of this response then in the first instance please contact the
University's Freedom of Information Officer (Mr Colin Atkinson: 0116 252
2412, [3][email address]).

Please be aware that it is also your legal right under Section 50 of the
Freedom of Information Act, to apply to the Information Commissioner for a
decision whether a request for information made to the University has been
dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Act.  It should be
noted that there is a requirement that there will be no undue delay in
making the application and there is an expectation that the complainant
will have exhausted the University's internal complaints procedure.

Complaints to the Information Commissioner should be addressed to:

FOI Compliance Team (Complaints)

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any queries regarding the
above.

Regards,

Henry

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Henry Stuart

Information Security Manager

IT Services

Prospect House

94 Regent Road

University of Leicester

(0116) 229 7946

[4][email address]

Times Higher Education University of the Year 2008

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