News

What is our normal policy?

Under the university’s sickness absence policy if you fall ill and cannot attend work, you would be required to:

notify your Nominated Person by telephone as early as possible on the first day of absence (normally within one hour of notional starting time); and

What is changing temporarily?

You should still notify your Nominated person to let them know that you are unable to attend work and the reason is either Covid-related or another absence reason.

If it is Covid-related, you must stay away from work and you must follow the Government's self-isolation guidance if you or anyone you live with develops:

• a continuous cough
• a fever/high temperature (37.8C or greater)
• loss of, or change in, sense of smell or taste (anosmia)

In addition, the Covid-19 Self Reporting Form should be used to provide information about a known or suspected case of Covid-19. If the absence is not Covid-19 related, the absence should be reported in the normal way. 

Anyone who has symptoms must self-isolate straight away and use NHSinform or call 0800 028 2816 to arrange a test.

• people who have tested positive for coronavirus must self-isolate for a minimum of 10 days from the time their symptoms started or the date of their positive test result (whichever is earlier).

• close contacts of someone who has tested positive identified by an NHS contact tracer will have to self-isolate for 10 days. This could mean colleagues of an employee with symptoms may have been close contacts, and may be asked by Test and Protect to self-isolate if that employee does test positive

• anyone who is a close contact and is self-isolating for 10 days, who themselves develop symptoms and tests positive, must start a new period of 10 days self-isolation from the date of onset of their own symptoms, even if that takes them beyond the initial 10 day period

• self-isolation may be required on more than one occasion

Please note that Government guidance may change and the latest information should be checked. See the latest guidance.

You may also be self-isolating in some circumstances in which you have no symptoms, including if you:

• have been in contact with a confirmed coronavirus carrier; or
• recently travelled overseas; or
• are in a vulnerable group (see Scottish Government guidance for details);
• you have been asked to self-isolate under the Scottish Government’s Test and Protect measures

You do not have to get medical advice from NHS Inform to self-isolate. However, if your symptoms worsen during self-isolation you should contact NHSinform .

If you have no internet access, you should call NHS 111. Please dial 999 only if you have a medical emergency.

What is our normal policy?

• Provide medical evidence (typically, a Fit note from your doctor) for sickness of more than seven calendar days' absence.

What is changing temporarily?

For Covid-related symptoms, you will not need to provide a Fit note, instead the medical evidence will be a:

• A self-isolation note;

If you are self-isolating for more than seven days' absence, we ask that you provide us with an "isolation note" from NHS 111, which you can obtain by completing a simple questionnaire at 111.nhs.uk/isolation-note. 

• A self-shielding letter;

If you have been advised that you need to ‘self -shield’, you will have a letter from the NHS advising you to "self-shield" because a serious underlying health condition means that you are at high risk– see the government guidelines  for more details.. A self-shielding letter can be classified as an automatic Fit Note for those that cannot work from home. Staff who can work from home would be expected to do so.

• Test and trace notification;

What is our normal policy?

Under the sickness absence policy we would normally invoke a formal review of your absence levels when the absence:

• lasts for a consecutive period of more than 4 weeks ; or
• exceeds a total of 20 days in any twelve month period; or
• exceeds 4 separate occasions in any six month period; or

falls regularly on specific days e.g. a Friday and/or Monday

If you are in self-isolation because:

• you or anyone you are living with displays symptoms;
• have been given medical advice to self-isolate (for example from NHS 111); or
• we ask you to self-isolate

The sickness absence will still need to be notified and recorded but we will not take this absence into account when determining whether or not to invoke a formal review of your absence levels under our absence management procedure. 

What is our normal policy? 

Under the sickness absence policy your sick pay entitlement in any 12-month period will be based on your continuous service date and will include a period of full pay followed by a period of half pay (as detailed in your contract of employment). 

 What is changing temporarily?

You will continue to be paid your sick pay entitlement as provided in your contract of employment if: 

• we have asked you to stay away from the workplace and self-isolate; 
• you are self-isolating because you have symptoms; or 
• you are self-isolating in response to medical advice from NHS 111, your doctor, or a local health protection team
• you have provided the medical evidence that relates to this period of absence i.e. a copy of the self-isolation note or shielding letter. 

What is our normal policy?

Under our Flexible Working Policy you can normally agree informally with your line manager to one-off or short-term changes to your working patterns or periods of homeworking.

However, if you wish to change your working patterns or work from home for an extended period, a formal request for flexible working would normally be made following the procedure set out in our Flexible Working Policy

The Government's advice is to "work at home unless your work absolutely cannot be done from home". As long as the University's operational needs continue to be met, you will be able to:

• adapt your working patterns, for example to allow you to travel on public transport at less crowded times, work flexible hours if you are balancing working from home with caring responsibilities; or
• work from home if your role allows for this, for an extended period without having to follow our formal procedure. Instead you can agree informally with your line manager to these changes.

You should speak to your line manager, if you wish to take advantage of these options, or any other flexible working options that may help you at this time. However, the decision as to whether or not to agree to your request for flexible working remains with your line manager.

What is our normal policy?

To be eligible for flexible working for caring reasons, staff must have been continuously employed by the University for 26 weeks.

See Carers Leave Policy

Parents and others who combine work with caring for dependents have the right to be considered for flexible working and are entitled to time off for dependants to deal with unforeseen circumstances.  There are a number of University policies which carers may find of particular relevance: 

• Right to request flexible working

• Time off for dependants
• Time off is normally limited up to three days without loss of pay and may be granted at the discretion of Discipline Lead/Deans/Directors.  Subsequent days, paid or unpaid, may be granted, depending on the circumstances.  

• Unpaid parental leave
  • Staff are eligible after 12 months service; max 4 weeks leave in any annual leave year.

• Annual leave

All staff over this period will eligible to be considered for flexible working due to caring responsibilities irrespective of length of service.

During this period and while you are working from home, if you have additional caring responsibilities due to for example school closures or looking after a dependant or family member who is unwell, you should discuss this with your line manager and agree what work you can reasonably do given your particular circumstances. The temporary changes to the Flexible working policy above will apply and should be referred to;

If you are unable to work due to your caring responsibilities as a result of the Covid situation, you should discuss with your line manager. There are a range of University policies that carers can access and if flexible working is not possible.

• Time off for dependants
• Time off is normally limited up to three days without loss of pay and may be granted at the discretion of Discipline Leads/Deans/Directors.  Subsequent days, paid or unpaid, may be granted, depending on the circumstances. 

• Unpaid parental leave
• all staff with children under the age of 18 are eligible for unpaid parental leave due to caring responsibilities and over this period all staff will be eligible  irrespective of length of service and the 4 week maximum entitlement will not apply in current leave year (up until 31 Dec 2021) 

• Annual leave

What is our normal policy?

Except by prior agreement with us, we do not normally require you to work remotely for an extended period.

There is normally no expectation that:

• if you use a laptop, you always take it home with you after work each day; or
• if you use a desktop, you access your emails remotely while away from the workplace.  

Given the current global health situation, you should be working remotely unless your work absolutely cannot be done from home. 

You should contact UoD-IT at help4u@dundee.ac.uk if you have any queries about IT equipment for working remotely. 

What is our normal policy?

Under normal policy, you may be regularly travelling in the UK and abroad for work and for some roles this is an important requirement of the role.

The University will not however authorise any travel to countries or regions where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel. Where the advice is against all but essential travel, the University (in this case the University Executive Group) would need to consider the risk involved versus the merits of visit.

What is changing temporarily?

You are currently not required to travel in the UK or abroad for work.

The new Government advice from Tuesday 5 January 2021, is that it is to stay at home except for essential purposes. Travel to or from Scotland without a reasonable excuse is not permitted. 

You should therefore not travel unless the guidelines are updated to reflect any change to the current travel restrictions. If any essential work-related travel is being considered, a full justification and risk assessment must be submitted to your Dean/Director, who will assess it and decide whether to support this. If they do support it, the travel proposal must then be submitted to the University Covid Ops group for final agreement. 

Any travel to countries or regions where the Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against travel will not be authorised. 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/travel-advice-novel-coronavirus

https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice

What is our normal policy?

We do not normally have any rules around staff travelling outside work.

What is changing temporarily?

The new Government advice from Tuesday 5 January 2021, is that it is to stay at home except for essential purposes. Travel to or from Scotland without a reasonable excuse is not permitted. 

You should therefore not travel unless the guidelines are updated to reflect any change to current travel restrictions.

If you have taken a decision to travel abroad and disregard government advice, and you are not able to work from home, the period of quarantine (10 days) will need to be taken as annual leave or unpaid leave.

What is our normal policy?

The University currently has no requirements beyond standard pre-employment checks and confirmation that UKVI requirements have been met.

There are now specific requirements in place for individuals entering Scotland and a period of self-isolation/quarantine will need to be factored in to start dates for new appointees joining from outwith the UK.

Current guidelines are that you must self-isolate for 10 full days if you arrive in Scotland from a country outside the Common Travel Area (UK, Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man). This is to protect against the risk of imported cases of coronavirus.

The University Bereavement policy grants a period of paid leave on the death of close relatives or dependants

The duration of paid leave will take account of the member of staff’s relationship with the deceased, any domestic responsibilities that may have to undertaken and any travel arrangements, but will not normally extend beyond 5 days

It is recognised that alternative arrangements may have to be made over this period if there has been a death of a close relative, with funeral services severely restricted due to social distancing rules.

Not applicable  (no Compassionate Leave – Special Circumstances policy)