Dear Francis,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Your request is receiving our attention and you will hear from us again within 20 working days at the latest.

Yours sincerely

Danielle Pyper, Information Rights Co-Ordinator
Information Rights Team, University Secretary's Office

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Dear Francis,
 
I am writing to apologise for our delay in responding.  We are facing
delays in relation to the first and second questions you have submitted,
but intend to provide a response as soon as possible next week.
 
 
Daniel Webb
 
Daniel Webb, Senior Manager Information Rights  (he/him/his)
Information Rights Team, University Secretary’s Office
t:     01908 653994
e:     [email address]
a:     The Open University, Level 5, 217 Charles Pinfold Building, Walton
Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
 
 
 
 
 

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Dear Francis
 
I am pleased now to be able to respond to your request under the Freedom
of Information Act (FOIA) dated 15^th March relating to casualisation
agreements.
 
I am very sorry for the delay.
 
Information Provided
 
I can confirm that the Open University partly holds the information which
constitutes information falling within the scope of your request.
 
I have addressed your questions as set out below:
 
1)A copy of any agreements between the university and trade unions
concerning casualisation, i.e. the use of fixed-term contracts, zero-hours
contracts or similar contracts.
 
The University does not use zero hours contracts in any form.  The
University’s overall policy on fixed term contracts was agreed with the
Trade Union and is attached. The University is also taking forward a
programme of decasualisation as set out in the most recent negotiation
agreement with the Trade Union relating to the terms and conditions of
Associate Lecturers (attached).
 
 
 
Please note however that we have redacted any personal data included in
these documents in accordance with the exemption of Section 40(2) under
the FOIA (see exemptions below).
 
(2)The dates any such agreements were reached.
 
The agreement on the terms the terms and conditions of Associate
Lecturers was made on 29^th June 2021.
 
The Open University’s Fixed term Contract Policy was originally negotiated
at date not currently held by the University but the current version was
most recently revised in December 2021.
 
(3) Annual statistics regarding the number of staff employed on fixed-term
contracts, dating from before any agreements mentioned in (1) to the
present day. If no such agreements exist, then please provide annual
statistics for the last five years.
 
 

Year No. of FTC Staff
2018 (as at 31/07/2018) 1126
2019 (as at 31/07/2019) 792
2020 (as at 31/07/2020) 625
2021 (as at 31/07/2021) 653
2022 (as at 31/07/2022) 607
2023 (as at 28/02/2023) 659

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(4) Annual statistics as in (3) regarding the number of staff employed on
zero-hours contracts (if possible separated into postgraduate students who
are also employed by the university, and other staff employed on
zero-hours contracts).
 
The University does not hold this information: no staff are employed on
zero-hours contracts.
 
(5)Minutes of meetings between the university and trade unions at which
progress of implementation of the agreements mentioned in (1) were
discussed.
 
The University holds this information but unfortunately its provision is
exempt from disclosure under Section 12 of the FOIA. Section 12 applies
where the time taken to comply with the request exceeds an 18-hour time
period (“the appropriate limit”). Further detail on this exemption is set
out below.
 
Intellectual Property Rights
 
This information provided in response to the FOIA will be subject to
copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by the
Open University.  The copyright in other information may be owned by
another person or organisation, and this will be indicated on the
information itself. You are free to use any information supplied for your
own non-commercial use or private study purposes.  The information may
also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in
copyright law, such as news reporting.  However, any other type of re-use,
for example by publishing the information in analogue or digital form,
including on an online format, will require the permission of the
copyright owner.
 
Exemptions
 
Section 12
 
To provide the information you have requested, we would need to carry out
a search across many years of negotiations around the contracts of
Associate Lecturers, potentially stretching back to over 20 years of
contact. Investigations would have to be made into all minutes of all of
the trade union consultative meetings and offline meetings to identify any
reference to Associate Lecturer contracts or fixed term contracts, those
references could be embedded in a mass of other material. Consequently to
carry out the above, would take in excess of 18 hours and would therefore
exceed the “appropriate limit.”
 
 
However under Section 16 of the FOIA, we are obliged to offer you advice
and assistance on how to resubmit your request within “the appropriate
limit”. We would therefore advise that you focus your request on a
specific agreement such as the Associate Lecturer Contract agreement
attached, to enable a focused and resource limited search.
 
 
Section 40
 
We have withheld the information where it forms the personal data of third
parties.
 
This is in line with the exemption under Section 40(2) of the FOIA and the
University’s obligations to those individuals under the Data Protection
Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation  (the “Data
Protection Laws”).
 
We consider that such disclosure of third party personal data into the
public domain under FOIA would not be within the reasonable expectations
of those individuals and so would be a breach of our obligations as a
Controller under the Data Protection Laws, including our obligation to
ensure fair and lawful processing of the personal data of our staff at all
times.-the individuals involved have not consented for the disclosure of
their personal data in this manner.
 
 
Review
If you have any concerns about the way the University has observed the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act you may apply for your
request to be reviewed.  Freedom of Information Reviews are considered by
the University Secretary or his delegate.  Your request must be submitted
within 40 working days of receipt of this letter/email. Reviews should be
addressed to the above [1]inbox, entitled “FOIA Review”, and should set
out the reasons for the review.   You will have a further right of appeal
to the [2]Information Commissioner’s Office.
 
 
Daniel Webb
Daniel Webb, Senior Manager Information Rights  (he/him/his)
Information Rights Team, University Secretary’s Office
t:     01908 653994
e:     [email address]
a:     The Open University, Level 5, 217 Charles Pinfold Building, Walton
Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
 
 
 
 
_____________________________________________
From: Freedom-of-Information
Sent: 14 April 2023 17:08
To: Francis Higgs <[FOI #960423 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Casualisation agreements
between university and trade unions, and implementation
 
 
Dear Francis,
 
I am writing to apologise for our delay in responding.  We are facing
delays in relation to the first and second questions you have submitted,
but intend to provide a response as soon as possible next week.
 
 
Daniel Webb
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Daniel Webb, Senior Manager Information Rights  (he/him/his)
Information Rights Team, University Secretary’s Office
t:     01908 653994
e:     [email address]
a:     The Open University, Level 5, 217 Charles Pinfold Building, Walton
Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA
 
 
 
 
 

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