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University policy on acting up allowances

1. Following consultation with Human Resources, a College/ Professional Service may agree that a member of staff should be paid an acting up allowance where, for any reason other than the annual leave of another employee, they are required by the College PVC/ Director of Professional Service to undertake the full duties and responsibilities of a higher graded post for a continuous period of at least four weeks.

2. All cases of acting up must be time-limited to cover a specific, short-term requirement, and they should not normally exceed 12 months duration. Human Resources will review acting up allowances with the College PVC/Director of Professional Service at regular intervals.

3. Approval for the acting up allowance is as follows:

  • Line manager completes the eSR1 request form
  • On receipt of the request the Employee Services team will set up the eSR1 and the line manager will receive an email containing the link to the eSR1
  • Line manager completes the eSR1 for the acting up allowance and submits it for approval.

4. The acting-up allowance will be based on the salary that would apply were the member of staff promoted to the higher graded post, ie the difference between their current salary and the first point of the higher grade (or the next point up the scale if the member of staff is currently paid at a point which overlaps with the bottom of the higher grade).

5. Where the member of staff is required to undertake some, but not all of the duties and responsibilities of a higher graded post – for example, where the duties and responsibilities are shared between more than one officer – the College PVC/Director of Professional Service may agree with their HR Business Partner an acting-up allowance of a smaller sum, dependent upon circumstances of the case.

6. In every case where an acting-up allowance is approved, HR Services will write to the employee to advise them of the reason for the allowance, the amount of the allowance and the period of the allowance.

7. The amount of the allowance will be fixed for the duration of the period of acting up/secondment and will only be revised:

(a) to take account of any nationally agreed general increase; or

(b) in arrangements covered by paragraph 2, if the employee has been acting up for more than at least 6 months at 1 August, in which case the allowance will be increased by the equivalent of an increment from 1 August (provided this is within the normal progression range of the grade). Please note this is applicable to increment arrangements from 1 August 2022, and is not backdated to include acting up arrangements or allowance increases before this date.

(c) The period of 6 months should be continuous with no break. Should there have been a cessation and recommencement of acting up, the latest commencement date of acting up will be taken for the start of the 6 month requirement.

(d) the allowance will be pensionable with effect from 1 August 2022 and appropriate deductions based on the pension arrangement applicable to your substantive post will be taken.

 Updated August 2022