Contract provision procedure

To initiate a contract once you have interviewed for a position, the ‘offers’ page on the e-recruitment system i-grasp should be completed.  

To initiate a contract for an unadvertised position for a period of less than 3 months, a New Appointment Authorisation Form (NAAF) form should be completed.  The NAAF together with a copy of the appointee’s CV, and references must be fully completed and sent to the People Support team. 

If the appointee’s salary is fully or partially externally funded, then the NAAF should firstly be sent to Research Finance Office (RFO) on the 2nd floor of the Tower Building, City Campus for funding authorisation.  Once RFO have authorised the funding they will send the NAAF on to the People Support team.  Please note that CV’s and references should not be sent to RFO, as these are confidential documents. 

Once a completed and correct NAAF form with all enclosures has been received, the People Support team will aim to produce and send out all contracts timeously.

Vacancy details

Where a person has successfully obtained an advertised post, the Vacancy Reference Number must be entered. If the post was not advertised tick ‘Unadvertised’.

Give details of the previous incumbent of the position or tick ‘New Post’.

Appointee details

Full name details must be given. Tick to confirm if the Appointee has held a previous post with the University or holds a current post with the University.

State where the contract must be sent to. (For current staff the contract is generally sent to their current Discipline/School/Directorate). If address details are different to those on the CV or Application form, give full details on the NAAF form.

If the Appointee requires a Certificate of Sponsorship, tick to confirm. A Certificate of Sponsorship is required for most citizens of non-EEA countries.

Appointment details

• Specify the following details:- Job Title, Discipline/School/Directorate, whether the position is permanent or fixed-term, the start date of the contract and, if applicable, the end date. All fixed-term contracts must be issued with a start date. If this is flexible or not finally agreed put in a provisional start date and add ‘or a date to be agreed’.
• State whether appointment is full-time or part-time. If part-time, for Staff Grades 3 - 6 state the number of hours per week; for Academic, Academic Related and Research positions state percentage of full-time.
• State Grade, Spinal Point and Starting Salary. The People Support team are happy to give advice on what should be stated here.  Individuals are usually placed on the minimum point on the grade, but generally, the University does not expect individuals to come and work here for less than they are currently earning.  Therefore, other things being equal, the salary offered would normally be the next point on the scale above their current salary level. 
• ‘Working under the immediate direction of’ – Give name of Grantholder or Supervisor/Manager.
• Superannuation will automatically be offered to all employees.  As an eligible employee, individuals will be automatically enrolled into the appropriate workplace pension scheme. 
• Where Clinical Appointments are made, the People Support team will write to the appropriate NHS HR Department to request an Honorary contract. Please state on the NAAF what Honorary NHS Grade should be requested.​​​​

Salary charging

Please complete this section fully. If this section is incomplete or the account code incorrect, it may not be possible to produce a contract. It is the Discipline/School/Directorate’s responsibility to identify the source of funding and account code and ensure that adequate funds are available for the Appointee’s salary.

Reclaims

This section only needs to be completed for those posts where the salary or a proportion of it is to be reclaimed from another organisation. (This does not apply to most external research funding but can apply to clinical posts funded by the NHS). Advice on salary reclaims or income cost centres is available from Finance.​​​

Approval

Advertised Position – Where the post is an advertised post a NAAF is not usually filled out in order to raise a contract, the offers page on the e-recruitment system, i-grasp is completed.  The Salary Cost Centre should be entered on the offers page and this will have either been approved at the advertising & appointment stage by Research Finance (for research funded posts) or will have followed the post approval process, having been to Staffing Sub Committee or University Staffing Committee (for non-research funded posts) for approval.  View the Post Approval Process

 Unadvertised Position – Exceptionally, posts are unadvertised and will require a NAAF to be completed where:-

• A research grant has been awarded on the basis that the work is carried out by a named researcher.
• The work is of a temporary or casual nature (including hourly paid Academic staff)

Externally funded positions must be approved by both the Grantholder and the Head of Discipline/Director.

Where approval for filling a vacancy has not already been given, this form must be signed by the Head of Discipline/Director and the Dean of School/University Secretary (if applicable). 

Externally funded positions

Where all or some of the salary is charged to external funding this form must be sent or e-mailed to Research Finance Office (RFO) (2nd Floor, Tower Building, City Campus), for authorisation of external funding details. Once authorised, RFO will automatically forward it to the People Support team who will check all other details.  Please do not send CV’s and References to RFO as these are confidential documents.