Homerton College is committed to the highest standards of employment practice, and to paying all our staff fairly.
Permanent and fixed-term staff
We have a policy of paying at least the Real Living Wage (RLW) to all our permanent and fixed-term contracted staff. In January every year, the College reviews salaries against the RLW announced in November and increases any wages to a scale point above the new RLW from January 1st. We follow the UCEA negotiated salary spines, starting on scale point 9 (equivalent to).
The current lowest annual and hourly salaries are:
Scale point 9 as at 10 June 2022: £19,276 p.a. or £10.02 p.h.
Going up as from 1 August 2022: £20,471 p.a. or £10.64 p.h.
A significant benefit is that all our permanent and contracted staff can join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) or the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS, if academic). Both are defined benefit schemes and the pension received will depend on the number of years of contribution and salary. For LGPS members, Homerton College contributes 17.9% of salary, and 94% of our eligible staff join.
Casual staff
To help with dinners, conference and events business and other peaks in business, we employ a number of casual staff. They mostly work short 3 or 4 hour shifts.
Homerton College policy is to pay at least the National Living Wage (NLW) for 23+ if casual staff fall within that age category, and the National Minimum Wage for 21-22 years old to all other casual staff regardless of age (the average age of our casual staff is 17). Depending on the work and responsibility, hourly rates may be more.
Under employment law, casual staff are paid an additional 12.2% of the pay rate in lieu of holiday pay.
The current minimum rates are as follows:
For casuals aged below 23, we pay £9.18 plus 12.2% holiday = £10.30 per hour
For casuals over 23, we pay £9.50 plus 12.2% holiday = £10.66 per hour
Like all our employees, casual staff get free meals on duty (see employee benefits below), and for our catering casual staff, the meal is taken during paid time, further increasing the equivalent pay rate.
All casual staff at Homerton who work for us on more than one occasion are given a written statement of their terms and conditions of employment, and are paid through the payroll. Contracts are non-exclusive (i.e. staff can work for other employers) and casual staff are at liberty to decline work for us when requested, without penalty. Most of our casual staff attend local sixth form schools and colleges, and some return to us during their holidays from further education and University.
Use of casuals is not undertaken to avoid giving permanent contracts, but to meet both the fluctuating /one-off nature of events, and in many cases the requirements of the staff members (such as local students).
Hours worked are monitored to ensure that staff are not being treated as casual workers when their pattern of work suggests they should be a permanent member of staff. If a casual worker wishes to work regular hours with us we always consider them for a permanent or fixed term contract.
Employee benefits
Homerton College provides a number of valuable staff benefits, including:
• 25 days' annual leave, rising to 30 after 5 years, plus Bank Holidays
• no split shifts, whether for permanent or casual staff
• an occupational sick pay scheme
• a free meal on duty
• discounts on purchases from retailers, services and restaurants
See our Employee benefits page for a full current list.
Many of our staff tell us that the greatest ‘employee benefit’ of working for Homerton is the beautiful working environment – a large and green estate with historic and high-quality buildings. Employee wellbeing was a key factor in our design of the kitchens in our new dining hall building, with natural light, temperature control and plenty of space.
Our approach to pay during Covid-19
During the Covid lockdown periods, where staff were furloughed and later placed on flexi-furlough, we have paid 100% of the salaries of permanent and fixed-term contract staff. Our casual staff who met the government criteria to be eligible for furlough, were paid 80% of average hours worked in the previous year, during the first lockdown period.
The College did not make any redundancies, and paid a cost of living increase in 2020 when the UCEA negotiated increase was 0%.
