Postgraduate Teaching Assistants

Casual/ Ad hoc work

Postgraduate students who are engaged as a Postgraduate Teaching Assistant (PTA) for regular and pre-scheduled work will be offered a fixed term contract for the duration of the academic year. More information can be found on our PTA webpages here: PTA - Contracting Guidance for Managers and Students.

If you are on a fixed term contract as a PTA but also engage in additional casual work (outside of your PTA contract), you will not be able to access the eClaims system to claim for this additional work. You should instead complete and submit a PTA103 form to the payroll office directly at payandbenefits@exeter.ac.uk.

Hours

The University has agreed limits on the hours which its students should work for the University in order to protect their learning and education. (See section 6 of Code of Good Practice on the Employment of Postgraduate Students and the Good Practice Guidelines for Undergraduate Students undertaking paid employment during term-time.)

For part-time students see the maximum hours permitted per year in the table below:
PTA student FTE:	1	0.9	0.8	0.7	0.6	0.5
Study hours per week	37.5	33.75	30	26.25	22.5	18.75
Study hours per year	1650	1485	1320	1155	990	825
Maximum work hours permitted per year	180	345	510	675	840	1005
Study hours and work hours combined	1830	1830	1830	1830	1830	1830

Tier 4 visa students/employees - please be aware that these visas carry legal restrictions on the number of hours paid or unpaid work can be undertaken. This is a maximum of 10 or 20 hours per week (depending on your visa) and cannot be averaged over a longer period. Please ensure you do not work more than your weekly working limit (this includes additional ad hoc hours, voluntary work and/or any work undertaken for another discipline/College or employer).

For further information please ensure you have read the Code of Good Practice on the employment of Postgraduate Students.

Expenses

Expenses will only be paid if they are approved in advance, reasonable and supported by receipts and allowable under the University of Exeter's Expenses policy. Please note that the University would not normally pay expenses for any worker travelling to the University for work. All expenses will be paid in line with HMRC guidance and claimed through Finance.

Right to Work

The UK Government has introduced regulations (the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006) to ensure that employers only engage workers who are legally permitted to work in the UK. These regulations require an employer to verify a new worker’s right to work in this country by checking and copying certain documents and to undertake annual checks on workers whose right to work in the UK is time-limited.

This requirement applies to all new workers, irrespective of their nationality. It is a criminal offense to engage someone who does not have the right to work in the UK.

You need to bring in the appropriate documents to your College, or HR, Room 356, Northcote House BEFORE you commence work where a copy of the documents will be taken and the originals returned to you. You will not be able to submit timesheets via the eClaims system until the documents have been received.