1. GUIDANCE ON RECRUITING STAFF / STUDENTS TO INTERNALLY FUNDED PROJECTS
These pages sets out the University’s policy, procedures and principles of good practice when hiring staff or students on projects funded by internal sources such as the Fusion Investment Fund, Centre for Excellence in Learning and Fair Access.
There are three main sections:
What to do at the proposal stage
Immigration Requirements
Guidance on recruiting staff/ students to your project
These pages should be read in conjunction with the following Staff Recruitment and Selection Policies and Procedures:-
Recruitment & Selection Strategy;
Recruitment & Selection Procedures;
Immigration Regulations (Guidance);
Guidance on Determining Employment Status;
Guidance on Employing Hourly Paid Lecturers;
Guidance on Employing Hourly Paid Professional & Support Staff;
Establishment Control Process;
Guidelines on employing Tier 2 Skilled Workers;
Guidelines on employing Tier 4 Students ;
Guidelines on employing Tier 5 Sponsored Researchers;
Overseas Visitors
It is the responsibility of Faculty/Professional Service with the guidance from Human Resources, to ensure that the appropriate employment relationship is established, and to ensure that the correct documentation is completed prior to commencing a work assignment. For more information on the different types of employment relationship please see Guidance on Determining Employment Status.
It is recommended you always consult with your Director of Operations/ equivalent and HR Adviser when considering recruitment to a project. In all cases, the Establishment Control Process should be followed.

2. WHAT TO DO AT THE PROPOSAL STAGE
It is essential that the proposal follows HR policies and procedures with regards to recruitment. All recruitment must begin with a job description and person specification which must be evaluated and graded by HR. Once the job description and person specification has been evaluated the grade will be confirmed and the salary paid must without exception reflect this grade.
The proposal must also include realistic costs for working on the project. BU’s pay scales must be used in all types of recruitment and you should bear this in mind when writing a proposal to ensure the appropriate grade is included as well as any advertising costs, interview expenses, relocation costs, on costs such as National Insurance payments and pension contributions and redundancy payments (if appropriate, this will apply if employment is for 2 years or more) . You can seek advice regarding on costs from your Business Accountant.
It is also important to specify the type of recruitment that will take place and bear in mind timescales for the advertising of the post you wish to recruit to. You must also ensure you liaise with your Director of Operations/ equivalent to ensure a desk and PC can be provided and to guide you through the recruitment process.

3. IMMIGRATION REQUIREMENTS
It is the responsibility of all BU staff who recruit new members of staff to ensure that the individual has the appropriate permission to work at BU and they comply with any conditions that may be placed on their visa. Please find further details below.  
Prevention of Illegal Working
As an employer, we have a responsibility to prevent illegal working in the UK. The law on the prevention of illegal working is set out in the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act. The provisions cover full-time, part-time, permanent, fixed-term and casual part-time hourly paid employees. The Act stipulates the documents that we have to check in order to be compliant. It is a criminal offence for you to employ someone who is not entitled to work in the UK, to do so could result in a civil penalty up to £20,000 per illegal worker or face criminal conviction. Checks must be carried out BEFORE the employee starts work by following the 3 step process outlined in the Immigration Regulations (Guidance).  
Tier 4 Students
Students with Tier 4 (General) visas may be allowed to work while they are in the UK, however they may not fill a  full-time permanent vacancy. They may only be employed on a temporary basis.
Students at undergraduate level or above, on a Tier 4 visa may work;
part-time during term-time, that is no more than 15 hours* a week and/or as defined by the conditions of the visa. This includes paid and unpaid work. For the purposes of work, a week is defined as a period of seven days starting on a Monday and ending on a Sunday.**
full-time during holidays. This is a period when they are not required to study. (NB. Re-submission of assignments or coursework is classed as term-time.)
full-time from the course end date. The student must provide a letter to confirm the course has ended prior to working full-time.
 *NB. The University limits the number of working hours per week for students to 15 hours per week during term-time for all contracts of employment.
** NB. With effect from 6 April 2017 the UKVI have confirmed that for the purposes of work, a week is defined as a period of seven days starting on a Monday and ending on a Sunday. Prior to this, the definition of a working week had been any consecutive seven day period from the contract start date, for example, if the contract starts on a Wednesday, the week runs from Wednesday to Tuesday continuously until the end of the contract. Where a part-time hourly paid contract has been issued prior to 6 April 2017, the definition of a working week will not change and working hours should be calculated on working for seven consecutive days from the contract start date. Where new part-time hourly paid contracts are being issued after 6 April 2017 these should commence on a Monday and the new definition of a working week apply.
The Guidelines for employing Tier 4 Students provide further details about employing Tier 4 students and your responsibilities in relation to this.
Overseas Visitors
An overseas visitor is someone from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) who is coming to BU for a temporary purpose, including those who will be carrying out only very limited paid work such as examiners. 
Ordinarily there are four options open for individuals wishing to visit BU for work (paid or unpaid) purposes: Academic Visitors, Business Visitors, Permitted Paid Engagements and Tier 5 (Sponsored Researchers).
The Overseas Visitors Guidelines provide an overview of which route may be most appropriate and which guidance document to review for information about how to use this route. For further advice please contact Human Resources.
Tier 2 Skilled Workers
BU can employ nationals from outside the settled workforce to fill skilled jobs which cannot be filled by a settled worker by sponsoring them to obtain a Tier 2 visa.  The definition of a settled worker can be found in the Tier 2 and 5: Guidance for Sponsors.
The Guidelines on employing Tier 2 Skilled Workers provide further details of eligibility to sponsor an individual for a Tier 2 visa and your responsibilities in relation to this.

4. RECRUITING STAFF/ STUDENTS
My project requires short term (i.e. under 12 weeks) work & fast recruitment
My project requires specific expertise
My project requires someone already working at BU
My project requires someone for a longer period of time (i.e. over 12 weeks)
Agency Staff
Part Time Hourly Paid
Consultants
Secondment Opportunities
Fixed Term Contracts
Projects which require short term work, and fast recruitment often recruit Agency Staff – please refer to the Guidelines for Engaging Agency Workers for full details on the approval process. This route is typically used to recruit staff to administrative tasks.
BU has a preferred agency who will usually be approached in the first instance. There is a pay scale for this which includes all on-costs which makes calculating your budget more simple. The agency requires a brief job description and the grade (as confirmed by HR via an evaluated Job Description) at which you wish to employ specified. The Agency Staff Request Form must be completed and signed by those relevant in your Faculty/ Professional Service.
The Agency will then send a selection of CVs of suitable candidates for you to review and you can either select the candidate for this or arrange interviews with those you wish to speak with further.
In terms of payment, this is done automatically via completed timesheet which the Line Manager signs at the end of each week and then the Agency Staff member sends this to the Agency.
For the member of staff to have an account whilst at BU, this needs to be arranged within your Faculty/ Professional Service.
If you wish to use an agency outside our the preferred BU supplier you must seek advise form HR and also obtain the agencies terms and conditions, Legal Services to produce a Contract Agreement Form (CAF) before engaging this agency.
Projects which require short term work (max 12 weeks) and fast recruitment, particularly of an academic nature, often recruit Part Time Hourly Paid (PTHP) Staff.
The Establishment Control Process provides details on the approval process for appointment of Part Time Hourly Paid staff and the employment of PTHP’s are detailed in the following procedures: Employment of Hourly Paid Professional & Support Roles; and Hourly Paid Lecturer roles.
The PTHP procedures must be followed A job description will need to be created by the Principal Investigator on the proposal and then graded by HR in order to recruit to this role and HR will also advise whether the role needs to be advertised if you already have someone in mind for the work.
A standard letter and contract must be sent out to the successful applicant which may take several days to produce within your Faculty/ Professional Service and numerous pre-employment documents must be completed by the successful candidate., including List A or B documentation and obtaining term dates for students with a Tier 4 visa. An appointment form must also be completed and returned to Human Resources with the contract and other documentation prior to the appointment commencing.
Payment for PTHP staff should be made at the appropriate University rate for the work in line with the principles of equal pay and the University pay and grading structure. All roles are evaluated by HR using the HAY Evaluation method before recruitment can take place. This ensures fair and consistent treatment across all types of roles and ensures the University complies with equal pay legislation.
For rates to be used please see details of PTHP Non-Academic Rates and details of Part-Time Hourly Paid Academic Rates Please note that the PTHP rate does not include on-costs or advertising costs and therefore you must bear this in mind when calculating your budget.
Payment is provided through timesheets completed by the employee and given to the Head of Department/ Professional Service to sign as well as the Director of Operations/ budget manager and submitted on a monthly basis to Finance. Timesheets are available online at:
PTHP Staff Payroll Claim and Tier 4 Student Timesheet .
Engagement of consultants on contracts for services will normally be in exceptional circumstances. Review the Determining Employment Status guidelines and seek advise form Human Resources to ensure that a contract for services is the appropriate route for employment.
Projects which require specific expertise and rates of pay for work, may recruit consultants, an example of this would be a hired speaker for a conference where a fixed fee is payable to the company supplying the speaker.
Where requests are made to engage consultants, the Establishment Control Process must be followed and an
Establishment Control Form completed and approved.
As a contract will be in place, the Contract Agreement Form (CAF) process needs to be followed which includes a review and signing of the contract by Legal Services prior to engaging the worker.
Some projects may seek to involve those already employed by BU. To do this, the Establishment Control Process must be followed to obtain approval to recruit on this basis, led by your Director of Operations/ equivalent. As this is a role outside of the establishment, this includes writing a business case, completing an Establishment Control Form and creating a Job Description which has been graded by HR. The Director of Operations/ equivalent will then send the complete set of documents to the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Finance & Performance for approval. You must speak to your Director of Operations regarding this process.
If approved, the post will then need to be advertised internally. The timescales for gaining approval for the post and advertising and then interviewing should all be considered when writing the project proposal.
Any backfill costs must be calculated to replace that member of staff in their Faculty/ Professional Service. Backfill is usually calculated at the same rate as the existing member of staff and consideration should be given to the cost of advertising as well as on costs when creating the proposal budget as well as potential delays to recruitment and the impact this may have on the project.
Some projects require a time specific commitment related to funding availability and therefore use a Fixed Term Contract. There is a Code of Practice for the Use of Fixed Term Contracts which must be adhered to when recruiting via this method.
As outlined in the Establishment Control Process a specific procedure must be followed to obtain approval to recruit on this basis, led by your Director of Operations/ equivalent. This includes a business case to be written, the completion of an Establishment Control Form and the creation of a Job Description which has been graded by HR. The Director of Operations/ equivalent will then send the complete set of documents to the Chief Operating Officer and the Director of Finance & Performance for approval. You must speak to your Director of Operations regarding this process.
If approved, the post will then need to be advertised and costs for this (including interview expenses, relocation, and redundancy pay as appropriate) as well as on-costs should be considered when creating the budget for your project. The timescales for gaining approval for the post and advertising and then interviewing should all also considered when writing the project proposal.
Recruiting Students
BU encourages co-creation with students and it is essential to remember that the students will be recruited to and contracted as a BU employee and therefore all of the above guidance and detail applies.
My project requires an Undergraduate Student
A project may wish to recruit students for a task that falls under the Student Ambassador Job Description, which has a specific rate of pay. As with all other types of recruitment a role description must be created and provided to HR to ensure this meets with the existing description and rates of pay.
For tasks falling outside of those listed in the Student Ambassador Job Description, a role description must be created and graded and HR. All opportunities for students are advertised through the Careers and Placements team.
My project requires Postgraduate Research Students
The Code of Practice for Research Degrees Policy, Procedure and Guidelines (8A) sets out parameters for employing PGRs to teach and Appendix 4 of this document contains the guidelines for doing so and specified the number of hours PGRs are permitted to teach for.
If it is intended a PGR will be recruited to assist with research, the same process for recruiting anyone for research must be followed. That is a job description must be created and graded by HR and guidance sought on the recruitment mechanisms.