1. (1) All university academic and academic-related employees, with the exception of associate professors who are mainly employed by colleges, shall obtain approval from their head of department (or equivalent), for the holding of any outside appointment (including executive and non-executive directorships on the boards of external organisations, spin-off companies and, for this purpose, University subsidiaries), and for undertaking other outside activities (including consultancies) which require a commitment of time that otherwise might reasonably be expected to be devoted to University duties.
(2) If the head of department (or equivalent) has an interest in the appointment or activity under paragraph (1), the application for approval shall be made to the person at the next higher level of authority. In most cases this will be the head of division.
(3) Council shall establish the line of approval under paragraph (1) for senior officers of the University by standing order.
2. Such approval is not required for:
(1) the holding of the office of Proctor or Assessor;
(2) the holding of the office of internal or external examiner in any examination;
(3) clinical work, where this is already set out in the terms and conditions of employment of staff with clinical responsibilities;
(4) activities or responsibilities normally associated with, or arising from, scholarly work which do not involve a formal and continuing contract (including, for example, serving as a grant reviewer, or as a member of an editorial board, or the board of a learned society, or being a member of a research advisory body, or government sponsored committee, or participating in practice runs for the REF, or giving occasional guest lectures, or one-off lectures with an honorarium);
(5) activities or responsibilities which are neither paid nor require the commitment of time that might otherwise reasonably be expected to be devoted to university duties.
(6) participation in public duties (such as acting as a school governor or as a magistrate), which shall be undertaken in accordance with such guidance as may be published on the Personnel Services website from time to time.
3. Approval may be granted for outside work and the holding of outside appointments, without any deduction from salary, subject to the following conditions:
(1) the application shall be made on the appropriate form in advance of the commencement of the appointment;
(2) the employee’s line manager where relevant and head of department (or faculty board chair in non-departmentally-organised subjects) must sanction the application before the appointment may commence: where the employee is a head of department (or faculty board chair), the head of division shall be responsible for granting this sanction;
(3) the employee must make a conflict of interest declaration on the application form;
(4) the total commitment to such outside work and appointments must not exceed thirty days in any academic year (subject to regulation 4 below): where consent is given for the holding of a directorship, the employee shall have an ongoing obligation to consult both the head of the department (or faculty board chair in non-departmentally organised subjects) and the head of the division concerned if there is any indication that the thirty-day period may need to be extended in order that the employee might perform his or her statutory and common law duties as a director;
(5) the employee shall comply with the Regulations relating to the Use of Information Technology Facilities;
(6) the employee shall comply with the University's Consulting Policy and Procedures;
(7) the employee shall not use university facilities, including e-mail or mailing addresses, in connection with the outside appointment without the permission of the head of department or faculty board chair (who should consider any VAT implications and who may levy a charge at the appropriate economic rate);
(8) the employee shall consult the Conflict of Interest Committee if in the ongoing performance of the outside work or appointment he or she at any time perceives a conflict or potential conflict with his or her duties to the University, or with the wider interests of the University.
4. Approval for cases where the proposed commitment exceeds thirty days may still be sought: in such cases the department or faculty board shall refer the request to the divisional board, and if it is approved a deduction from salary shall be made. (Partial or full secondment may be more appropriate for particularly time-consuming outside appointments.)
