Summary
Additional Responsibility Payments are made to employees who are taking on additional responsibilities over and above those set out in their job description and at a higher level, with the agreement of their institution. Institutions are advised to complete and submit an HR31 request form to the relevant HR School Team to request, amend or extend an additional responsibility payment. For further information or advice please contact your HR School Team.
Eligibility
Additional Responsibility Payments can be paid to Academic, Academic Related and Assistant staff irrespective of grade or type. If a payment to any other staff group, for example a Researcher, is required please consult with HR for advice.
Scope
Part-time additional responsibilities
Additional Responsibility Payments may be paid on a part-time basis if the employee is taking on additional duties for a percentage of time rather than for their full hours, e.g. undertaking a higher graded role for 1 day per week. This should be indicated clearly on the HR31 request form or it will be assumed that the payment is to be calculated on the same hours per week as the employee's substantive role.
Temporary acting-up arrangements
Additional Responsibility Payments may be used for temporary acting up duties (e.g. for a specific task or project) and where an employee is asked to cover more senior duties but not to cover another complete role (e.g. during a period of maternity leave or long-term sick leave).
Circumstances where additional responsibility payments are not appropriate
- If the role of ‘Deputy’ is included in the standard job description/summary (although this may need to be reviewed if the situation lasts for a considerable length of time).
- Where the additional responsibilities are regarded as a development opportunity and/or a natural growth of the job.
- Where the duties being undertaken are at the same grade or lower than the employee's substantive post.
- Payment for overtime or to cover annual leave. This should be dealt with by submitting a CHRIS/81 to Payroll at payroll.spreadsheets@admin.cam.ac.uk.
- For short-term ungraded appointments.
- Where an employee is covering maternity leave or long term sickness absence for their full working hours. Under these circumstances a contractual changes is required (i.e. to move the employee to a post on a temporary basis). A CHRIS/71 form should be completed to move the employee into the position on a temporary basis. When dealing with the full role of covering maternity or sickness absence, consideration should be given to whether other employees may be interested in covering this role, and advice sought from HR as to whether the role should be advertised.
Timeframes
Additional Responsibility Payments are temporary and should always have an end date to reflect the specific circumstances. Any request over 6 months should be discussed in advance with HR. If the request is for more then a year consideration should be given to re-grading the individuals underlying post.
Extensions
A further request form (HR31) must be completed to extend an Additional Responsibility Payment. A request that takes the payment over 1 year will be referred back to the Institution, who will normally be advised to have the position formally graded. However, in exceptional circumstances extensions beyond a year may be appropriate.
Payment
In most cases the same remuneration principles as a promotion will apply, i.e. the employee is paid for the additional duties undertaken at the first point of the grade of the role they are covering, or 2 points above their current spine point, whichever is the greater. It is usual that the payment will reflect the difference in grade and salary between the employee's substantive post and the post they are acting up to, and the proportion of the higher grade duties they are carrying out.
If the responsibilities are significantly different from any other role in the Institution (i.e. the duties do not fall within a role which has been graded, or where only part of a role is being covered), section 3 of the HR31 request form should be completed to enable Human Resources to advise on the appropriate level of pay. If an Institution has any specific queries please speak to your HR School Team.
Please note that where temporary duties become permanent and the position needs to be re-evaluated by Grading and Reward using HERA, (Higher Education Role Analysis), the outcome may not result in the post being re-graded to a higher grade. This should be taken into consideration when setting the amount for the Additional Responsibility Payment and communicating with the employee concerned.
Additional Responsibility Payments will increase in line with the employee's annual incremental progression unless HR and the Institution, in discussion with the employee, agree that this would not be appropriate in a particular case.
Procedure
- Institution completes and submits an HR31 request form to the relevant HR School Team.
- HR Business Manager/Adviser reviews the request, liaising with Grading and Reward as appropriate.
- Written confirmation is sent from the HR Recruitment Administration team to the employee once the payment has been set up.
- Any request received and approved by HR before the Recruitment Administration payroll deadline will be processed for that payroll month. Any request received after the deadline will be processed the following payroll month.
- At the end date stated on the HR31 the payment will automatically cease unless another HR31 is received for approval. It is the Institution's responsibility to monitor and record the end date of Additional Responsibility Payments and to send any extension request (if appropriate), in good time to HR.
For further information please contact your HR School Team.