If you have been asked to register as a casual worker at the University of Cambridge by one of our Institutions or Departments, you should read the information on this page and follow the instructions on how to register as a worker on the Cambridge Casual Worker System (CCWS).
CCWS is the system we use to manage the following processes for you during your time as a casual worker with us and:
- Collates personal information about you (including your Right to Work in the UK documentation)
- Sends you details of Temporary Assignment offers
- Enables you to enter timesheets for the hours you have worked for us
- Enables you to submit appropriate and pre-agreed expenses incurred whilst working for the University
You will find more information on working as a Casual Worker for the University of Cambridge in our Worker Handbook.
On this page:
- Registration process
- Registering if you are a University employee
- Working-hour restrictions for students and student visa holders
- Tax and National Insurance
- University email account
- University cards
- Updating your CCWS profile
- Overseas bank accounts
- Deactivation and reactivation of CCWS accounts
1. Registration process
In order to register with CCWS you will need the following information ready to hand:
- A valid email address and a suitably strong password
- Your personal contact details
- Contact details of an emergency contact for you
- If you are a UK or Irish National, your Right to Work in the UK documentation (Passport, Birth Certificate etc.)
- If you are a Foreign National (including EU, EEA and International), a Share Code from the Government Website.
- The details of the Bank Account where you wish to receive your payment for any work completed
Follow this link to access CCWS.
Once you have completed all sections of your CCWS profile, click the green ‘Submit your profile for approval’ button to finalise your registration. A representative from the department you will be working for will then review your profile and verify your Right to Work status. As part of this process, they will arrange a short meeting—either in person or virtually—to confirm your identity matches the documentation provided. Once approved, you will begin receiving job information from the University by email.
Additional checks, such as a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, may be required depending on the nature of the role.
Training materials are available to support you as required to log in and register on the system in the Training Library for Workers.
2. Registering if you are a University employee
If you are undertaking work that is different from your main University role, you can set up a CCWS profile so that this work is kept separate. You will still need to upload your Right to Work (RTW) document but your department may not have to repeat the physical/virtual RTW check as they can use historical information. However, if you are working for a new department, they may wish to verify the information you hold.
3. Working hour restrictions for students and student visa holders
Workers on a Tier 4/Student visa are allowed by the Home Office to work up to 20 hours per week during term-time, and full-time during University holidays. The holiday period in which students can work full-time is defined according to the type of course they are undertaking.
However, the University imposes working restrictions on its own students (regardless of nationality), some of which go beyond the Tier 4/Student visa restrictions. Please see the guidance contained within the ‘Working during your studies’ and ‘International Students working and studying’ webpages.
Students holding a Tier 4/Student visa and studying with another Higher Education Institution will be asked to provide a letter from their Institution confirming (a) that they are registered as a student, (b) the type of course, (c) what stage they are at and (d) their term dates.
If you hold a Tier 4/Student visa, when registering on CCWS, you should take the following actions on the Right to Work tile:
- Select ‘International’ under the question Worker Nationality
- Select ‘Share code or online right to work check’ under the question Documentation Type
- Enter Share code reference number from the government website
- Under the question ‘Does your visa have working hour restrictions?’, select Yes
- Under the question ‘Do you have different working hour restrictions during term and out of term times?’, select Yes
- Upload your University/College letter confirming the details noted above (non-University of Cambridge students only)
Workers holding a Student Visitor visa are not allowed to work at all.
4. Tax and National Insurance
When you start a temporary assignment, you will need to provide a P45 from your most recent employer. If you do not have this, please choose the appropriate option on the “tax details” tile.
A National Insurance Number enables a record of the National Insurance contributions and Income Tax you pay in the UK to be made. It is also a reference number for the entire social security system and each number is unique and is made up of letters and numbers e.g. QQ123456A.
Your national insurance number never changes even if you go abroad, marry, register as a civil partner or change your name. The University needs this so that we can organise your tax and contributions at the correct rates through our payroll system.
If you do not have a NI number and have worked or intend to work for 12 weeks or longer in the UK, then you will be required to apply for one.
For any tax or National Insurance queries please contact the Payroll section on (01223) 339779. If you need to contact the local tax office for advice or complicated tax issues, the details can be found on the Payroll website.
5. University email account
The department in which you are working is responsible for setting up a University email account for you if that is required.
If you have previously had an email account at the University of Cambridge, you should inform your new department of your previous user ID and they will be able to re- activate your email account. You may be required to sign a data protection form prior to using the e-mail facilities.
6. University cards
If you are unable to access the building where you are working without a card you should discuss the security arrangements with your Institution. You may receive a 'temporary card' to give you access to your place of work, but your temporary card will not entitle you to some of the discounts and benefits permanent members of staff receive.
Temporary cards must always be handed back to the department at the end of your assignment.
7. Updating your CCWS profile
You are able to edit your personal information in CCWS at any time.
However, if you need to amend your ‘Right to Work’ or ‘Tax details’ then your profile will need to be temporarily “rejected” by your department to ensure these changes are picked up by the right teams. Once you have made the necessary changes, you will need to re-submit your profile for approval.
If you try to edit these sections without your profile being approved, you will get the message “this section is not editable as the profile is already approved. Contact your system administrators if you require further assistance” - please contact your department for help if you see this message.
If you change your Bank Details in CCWS, we need to follow a Payroll process in which your department must verify with you that the changes are genuine. This can sometimes take a few days so we would ask you to avoid changing your bank details too close to the Payroll deadline (department cut off) displayed in the Finance Website (CCWS payment dates).
8. Overseas bank accounts
The University is required to pay into your bank account, payments cannot be made into someone else's account (e.g., friend or family member).
All casual workers are expected to have a UK bank account. However, where you do not have a UK bank account, your International Bank Details should be added to your profile. This will be flagged to Payroll as it will be identified as a non-UK bank account.
9. Deactivation and reactivation of CCWS accounts
If you haven’t worked for more than 12 weeks and have no future bookings in the system, the Casual Worker HR Team must notify the Pension Regulator (for auto-enrolment reasons) and put your profile into a ‘dormant’ state until you’re ready to complete further temporary assignments. This process is known as “deactivating” a profile.
You will receive the following error message if you try logging in whilst your profile is deactivated. ‘Access Denied – This user account is no longer active’.
Your profile hasn’t been removed, and you do not need to reregister or create a new profile. It’s a straightforward process to reactivate your account, just contact your department and they can do this for you.
If you are returning to a temporary assignment for a different department, please ask them to contact the Casual Worker HR Team at casual.workers@admin.cam.ac.uk and we will be happy to help change your ‘main department’ in CCWS, so that the new department can reactivate your account.
To ensure our records are correct, the system will ask you to re-confirm your tax details. When your profile is reactivated (the Tax Details box will appear in red when you log in). Once you have done this, please submit your profile for approval again. All other details will remain completed.
Please do not create an additional profile as this can cause issues with payroll.