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Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on amendments to regulations relating to deductions from and additional payments to the stipends of University officers

The COUNCIL and the GENERAL BOARD beg leave to report to the University as follows:

1. Under the current regulations for stipends, deductions are made from the stipends of University officers on account of payments received from a College or Colleges other than for teaching and direction of studies. In this Report, the Council and the General Board propose that such deductions no longer be made. Additional payments are currently made in respect of certain administrative duties on behalf of Faculties and Departments. These payments may not exceed one-fifth of the maximum of the scale of stipends for University Lecturers. The Council and the General Board further propose that this ceiling be removed.

2. Regulation 4 of the regulations for stipends (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 639) and Schedule V appended to those regulations (p. 645) are as follows:

Regulation 4:

The stipend of each officer shall, unless exempted by the competent authority, be subject to deductions in accordance with Schedule V….

Schedule V:

Deductions from the stipends of University officers shall be made as follows:

(a) on account of a Fellowship with dividend, a sum at an annual rate equal to the dividend, provided that, on the application of the College and for so long as the College shall request, deductions on this account from the prime stipend of a person holding a Fellowship on 31 August 1965 shall continue to be made in accordance with the provisions of Regulation 5(a) of the regulations for stipends that were in force on that date;

(b) on account of emoluments received from a College or Colleges, other than for teaching or direction of studies, and such occasional payments as may be exempted by the competent authority, a sum equal to one-half of the excess of the total of these emoluments over an amount equal to one-fifth of the maximum of the scale of stipends for University Lecturers (or, if at any time one-fifth of the maximum of that scale is not a multiple of £50, the next lower amount that is a multiple of £50) provided that the competent authority, after consultation with the authorities of the College, may direct that the deduction be less than aforesaid or that there be no deduction, and provided that the competent authority, in order to comply with national legislation on increases of stipends, may direct that the deduction be greater than the aforesaid.

At present, if such emoluments amount to more than £6,600 a year (approximately one-fifth of the top of the University Lecturer scale) an amount, equivalent to fifty per cent of the College emoluments, is deducted from the University officer's prime stipend.

3. This policy of making deductions from the prime stipends of University officers was introduced in 1948 and was reviewed in 1964. Originally, the policy had been commended to the University on the ground that it effected a relation between the contribution of the University and the Colleges respectively to the total stipends of University officers who served both, which would be generally equitable and was flexible enough to adjust itself to changing conditions. In connection with this, the threshold of College emoluments above which deductions would be made from University stipends was linked by equivalence to the maximum amount that a University officer could receive each year in non-pensionable payments additional to stipend each year (Regulation 5(a) of the regulations for payments additional to stipend (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 646)). This linkage was part of the arrangement which was designed to reflect a reasonable and equitable balance between University, College, and individual interests.

4. The policy has not been reviewed since the mid-1960s. The Council and the Board believe that, almost four decades later, the policy has ceased to be meaningful in addressing the remunerative relationship between the University and Colleges in respect of the teaching and administrative demands made on individual University officers. Experience has clearly shown that the ceiling on the amount of the total annual sum that can be earned by a University officer as non-pensionable payments additional to stipend is now unduly restrictive, given the increased administrative demands made by University Faculties and Departments on individual University officers; and that, also, the deduction threshold acts as a disincentive for University officers who may otherwise wish to take on important and necessary College duties.

5. The Council and the Board believe also that the sums accruing to the University from these deductions (£134,000 for the academical year 1999-2000) no longer justify the burden and cost both to the University and to the Colleges of administering the policy.

6. The Council and the Board have consulted Faculties, Departments, and the Colleges on the suggestion that the deduction policy should cease and that the maximum limit of the annual amount that can be earned by University officers as non-pensionable payments additional to stipend should be removed.

7. The great majority of the Colleges responded to the consultation. These are, without exception, in favour of the suggestion. A substantial majority of Faculties and Departments also responded to the consultations; all but a few are in favour of the suggestion. The Council and the Board expect the proposals, if approved, to be beneficial to the Colleges. Although it is to be hoped that any changes to arrangements which have been in operation for many years will be smooth, it may be that a difficult situation might occasionally arise in a Faculty or Department as a result of the changes. The Council and the General Board very much hope that any such difficulty will be addressed and resolved by the individual and his or her Faculty or Department in a spirit of goodwill and reasonable compromise.

8. In addition to proposing the abolition of the deduction policy and the relevant regulation in the Ordinances, the Council and the Board propose a concomitant change in Regulation 5 of the regulations for payments additional to stipend (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 645) to remove the maximum limit that an officer may earn as non-pensionable payments additional to stipend in any particular year.

9. Accordingly the Council and the Board recommend:

That approval be given to the proposals in this Report and that the relevant regulations be amended, with effect from 1 October 2001, as follows:

(A) The general regulations for stipends (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 639):

Regulation 2.

By removing the proviso to the regulation.

Regulation 4 and Schedule V.

By rescinding the regulation and schedule to these regulations.

(B) Regulations for payments additional to stipend (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 645):

Regulation 5.

By amending sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) so as to read:

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Cambridge University Reporter, 25 July 2001
Copyright © 2001 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.