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Joint Report of the Council and the General Board on adjustments to the scales of stipends and pay structure for Computer Officers

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

1. Background

The statement of the University's emerging Human Resources Strategy submitted to the HEFCE in May 2001 drew attention inter alia to the need to put in place more effective and competitive policies with regard to recruitment. A number of proposals directly concerned with recruitment were made in the Strategy. These included the abolition of age-related salaries and the introduction on a pilot basis of the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) scheme for taking account, where appropriate, of market forces in determining remuneration offers on appointment.

2. The University now has new and more flexible arrangements in place for determining salary on appointment, following the approval of the Report of the Council and the General Board that proposed such new arrangements (Reporter, 2000-01, p. 811). Extensive work will begin shortly on developing a common grading methodology for all academic-related staff when the recently appointed Pay and Remuneration Manager takes up her duties in March. Work will also be carried forward on the development of a database which will be used to address the issue of market factor supplements to be offered in particular areas and in relation to particular offices and posts.

3. In the meantime, the University will continue to experience difficulty in recruiting to particular areas. The Council and the General Board take the view that some adjustments to existing pay structures should be made, pending the outcome of the major reviews referred to, if particular problems in recruiting staff are to be mitigated. One area where it has been clear for some time that a recruitment problem exists is in relation to Computer Officers. Although the new arrangements for determining pay on appointment, taken in conjunction with the University's recruitment incentive payment scheme for staff in non-professorial grades, represent an improvement, the Council and the General Board believe that further improvement can be achieved by making changes to the present scale structure across the four current grades of Computer Officer and by aligning the senior end of the structure with long-established structures in other academic-related areas.

4. Proposed improvements to the current scale structure of Computer offices

In the current scale structure of Computer offices there is an extensive overlap. The Council and the Board agree that the elimination of this overlap, thereby making the scales of stipends end-on, would help in the recruitment process. In detail, the changes proposed are the removal of:

These changes are set out in the chart contained in the Annex to this Report.

5. In addition, it is proposed that a new office of Principal Computer Officer be introduced. This office equates to the office of Principal Assistant Registrary and Principal Assistant Treasurer in the Unified Administrative Service. The introduction of this office will necessitate a change in the stipend of the Deputy Director of the University Computing Service. It will also necessitate amendment of the regulations for Senior Computer Officers and Computer Officers (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 695) as detailed in paragraph 10 below. The opportunity afforded by this Report has been taken to make further amendments to these regulations following the recent approval of revised regulations for the Unified Administrative Service.

6. The effect on staff in post

Computer Officers in post who are currently on points which it is proposed to abolish will progress to the new place 1 on the relevant scale. The number of staff affected are: two in Grade I; seven in Grade II; and one in Grade III. The stipend of the Deputy Director of the University Computing Service will also be adjusted to the proposed new level.

7. Computer Associate grades

These structural changes will apply also to the unestablished Computer Associate grades as these correspond directly to the Computer Officer grades.

8. Consultations

The Director of the University Computing Service, the Information Technology Syndicate, and the Acting Director of the Management Information Services Division have been consulted on these proposals and all are in agreement that the changes should be made as soon as possible.

9. Authority for the approval of the proposals

As a result of the recent approval of the Council's Report on the Unified Administrative Service, changes to the stipends and grades of offices within the Unified Administrative Service require the approval of the Regent House. Accordingly, the adjustment of the scales for Computer Officers Grades I, II, and III and the introduction of the new office of Principal Computer Officer within the Unified Administrative Service will require the approval of the Regent House. Subject to this approval, the same adjustments, in so far as they apply to General Board institutions, and which may be approved under the authority of the General Board without reference to the Regent House, have been approved by the Board.

10. The Council and the General Board accordingly recommend:

I. That a new office of Principal Computer Officer be established in the Unified Administrative Service and that the stipend for the office be on step 30 (with a discretionary step of 30A).

II. That the scales of stipends for Computer Officers in the Unified Administrative Service (Schedule II, Statutes and Ordinances, p. 647) be amended as follows:

Grade I Step 19 to 22 (and 25, 26, and 27)

Grade II Step 16 to 18

Grade III Step 10 to 15

III. That the regulations for Senior Computer Officers and Computer Officers (Statutes and Ordinances, p. 695) be retitled Principal Computer Officers, Senior Computer Officers, and Computer Officers, and amended as follows:

Regulation 1.

By inserting in line 1 before the words 'Senior Computer Officer' the words 'Principal Computer Officer,' and by amending the second sentence so as to read:

The stipend of the office of Principal Computer Officer, Senior Computer Officer, and the scale of stipends for each grade of Computer Officer, except where those offices are in the University Offices, shall be determined by the Council with the concurrence of the General Board.

Regulation 3.

By amending this regulation so as to read:

3. Appointments and reappointments of Principal Computer Officers, Senior Computer Officers, and Computer Officers in the University Offices shall be made in accordance with the regulations for the University Offices. Appointments and reappointments of Principal Computer Officers, Senior Computer Officers, and Computer Officers in other institutions not under the supervision of the General Board shall be made by the Appointments Committee for the institution concerned, with the addition of a person appointed by the Registrary to act on each occasion.

Regulation 4.

By amending the first three lines so as to read:

Except for officers within the University Offices, appointments and reappointments made by the Appointments Committees specified in Regulation 3 shall be subject to the following provisions:

(a) A Principal Computer Officer or Senior Computer Officer shall be appointed in the first instance for three years, provided that

Regulations 5 and 6.

By replacing at each occurrence the words 'Senior Computer Officers' by the words 'Principal Computer Officers, Senior Computer Officers'.

ANNEX

Computer Officers: suggested adjustments to current pay structure

*Notes

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Cambridge University Reporter, 27 March 2002
Copyright © 2002 The Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge.