Coventry UCU Members have raised numerous question about furloughing of academic and research staff. Coventry University has yet to provide any detailed information around furloughing of staff. Here is the email sent to the Head of People on 9th April 2020.

We still await a response…

Email to People 9th April 2020

Dear People

Thank you for your response to the email sent 8th April 2020 confirming the position but you didn’t say which groups were going to be furloughed.  

However during the meeting on 6th April it was stated:

 “the basic principle to be considered for furlough was for staff who cannot work from home”. 

During the meeting, you discussed rotating staff who were going to be furloughed.  At that point, you suggested that it was going to be approximately 200 staff on a list. You specifically referred only to staff in the functions of nursery, IT, sports centre, catering, library and security. 

The core function of the university is delivered through the primary work of academics and researchers.  At no point in the discussion did you mention or use examples of academics and researchers to be considered for furlough. 

UCU believes that the following points should be considered:

1. Will the SLT and respective Deaneries be considered for being furloughed? If yes, how many?

2. What job guarantees are there for newly appointed staff recruited since 28th Feb? 

3. Will there be a recruitment freeze whilst other staff are being furloughed?

4. Will the University ask for volunteers to be furloughed?

5. If staff are furloughed, what would be the duty of care to look after their well-being during that period?

6. Can you guarantee that furloughed staff will in the long term be retained?

7. We require further specifics on the criteria for academic and research staff being considered for furlough.

8. What is the University’s position to staff who have visas that do not allow for recourse to public funds? UK Government states:

“Any employer with a UK payroll and a UK bank account will be able to claim, but you must have been on your employer’s PAYE payroll before or on 28 February 2020. You can be on any type of contract, including a zero-hour contract or a temporary contract. You can be furloughed under the scheme if you are a foreign national.”

[Source: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-if-you-could-be-covered-by-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme#check-if-youre-eligible]

We remind you that academic and research staff have and are putting in great effort to transfer materials online, offering continued support to students, marking student work in significantly different ways, continuing to generate research funding opportunities whilst adapting to remote working.

We require a response before any furlough letters go out to staff next week.

Regards

UCU Committee