A to Z

The National FAQs page  covers a range of issues. For more branch-specific FAQs, see below.

ACAS

ACAS is a non-departmental government body that gives advice and support to employees and employers on workplace rights, rules and best practice. Further guidance on disciplinary and grievance procedures, on the university releasing information to trade unions, on paid time for union representatives, settlement agreements, and on flexible working, can be found at the ACAS website.

AL Skills Audit and Skills Profile

UCU strongly recommends that Associate Lecturers complete their Skills Audit and keep their Skills Profile updated. Note that there is a tick box to indicate your openness to additional hours, whether temporarily or permanently. Full details.

AL Academic Currency and Professional Development

The policy agreed with the university can be found at the following link.

Benefits Calculator

The nationwide building society has launched a free phone line and online calculator to help people understand what benefits and support are available to them. It’s part of a campaign to help people understand and claim what’s theirs, reduce the stigma associated, and lobby government to simplify the application process. We know from Hardship Find applications that this branch has members eligible for benefits, including and beyond universal credit. To learn more, visit the Better Off Indicator.

Branch meetings

The dates of our branch meetings are shown on the events page, all members are welcome to join branch meetings on Teams software. 

Branch Rules

The branch rules can be found at branch rules (Word, 75 KB), updated July 2025.

Career Development and Staff Appraisal (CDSA) agreements 

See the 2007 - CDSA Agreement between the OU and UCU (PDF, 1.5 MB)

Also see 1987 - CDSA agreement between the OU and AUT (PDF, 1.7 MB) (AUT was the Association of University Teachers. AUT merged with NATFHE in 2006, to create UCU) 

For AL colleagues seeking support on the Skills Audit and subsequent module allocations, UCU strongly recommends members ensure that their Skills Audit and Skills Profiles are up to date. Where ALs aspire to work in adjacent or new curriculum areas this should be noted in CDSAs.

Casework

If you are having problems at work, you can talk to one of our trained caseworkers for advice.  We can help with all kinds of problems, including (but not restricted to): bullying & harassment, unreasonable workloads, problems with a manager, sickness policy, performance monitoring including CDSA, probation, disability issues, disciplinary cases, grievances, redundancies and severance. 

More information about casework, including the form to request a caseworker, can be found on the get help page.

Code of Conduct

The branch created an online code of conduct in January 2022 and it is now in place for our Executive and AL reps committees, view code of conduct (PDF, 67 KB). 

UCU members' code of conduct (PDF, 119 KB) 

Executive Committee

Our Branch Executive Committee are all listed on this page. 

Expenses

We have a process for claiming expenses for attending UCU meetings and events. National UCU events and training course expenses are claimed from the relevant national organiser. For branch events or actions, complete the expenses claim form (Excel 24kb) and return it to the branch mailbox.

Gypsies, Roma, Travellers, Showmen and Boaters (GRTSB)

The GRTSB working group is an informal group for colleagues from all parts of the university who are interested in how we can improve support for GRTSB students. This is not a UCU group but may be of interest to UCU members who have an interest in equality and social justice. Contact Caroline Derry if you would like to know more.

Hardship fund

The branch hardship fund supports members who are taking strike action. If you would like to donate to our branch hardship fund, we would be very grateful. Here is how you can donate:

Send an email to [email protected] pledging the amount you wish to donate, then we will send you our hardship bank account information.  Alternatively, you can donate to UCU's national fighting fund. 

Home Working Conditions

The OU's main policies concerning homeworking are in the People Services A-Z page (opens in a new tab). Some important ones are 'Homeworking', 'Overseas Working' or 'Agile working'.

UCU's work focuses on employment issues and our main relationship is with the OU as our employer, however, the branch has a particularly high number of homeworkers. To collaborate on housing issues in an OU context, including renters rights, reducing energy bills, or health, safety and wellbeing aspects of warm homeworking in winter and safe heat in summer, join the 'Sustainability and Community Wealth Building' working group. 

For homeowners, an increasing number of groups exist to provide advice on renovations and reliable local contractors, and many are not-for-profit (opens in new page). A database of cooperative providers can be found on this page, or an online search for ‘home retrofit’ and your location will often find a local Community Interest Company. See the Energy Saving Trust website for various government retrofit grants available.

For Renters, your rights vary depending upon where you live. The Energy Saving Trust website has advice on actions tenants can take on home energy, heating and cooling. For more specialist help on Rental issues, including issues with your landlord, try Living Rent (Scotland), Community Action Tenants Union (CATU) (Island of Ireland), and Acorn (England and Wales).

On heat, we recommend the NHS advice page, from Age UK and the UK Heath Security Agency. The TUC campaign and education page focuses on non-home workplaces, but many of the points and recommendations are applicable. 

Joint Agreements 

We have a procedure document showing the agreement between the OU and the UCU branch with regard to the agreed arrangements for formal discussions and negotiations on matters of mutual interest and concern.  The time off document outlines the agreement between the OU and the UCU branch for staff wanting to take time out of their day job for Trade union activities. 

Both of these agreement files are on the People Services intranet (OU staff only)

Motions

Motions passed at all our branch meetings can be found on the motions pages.

Negotiation and working groups

Read about our negotiation and working groups as well as a list of Open University policies that we are working on. 

News

Branch news is on our news page. 

Open Saver: The Open University Employees' Credit Union

Open Saver is a credit union, membership of which is exclusive to employees of The Open University. It is a small, not-for-profit and co-operative ‘bank’, set up and run by OU employees for OU employees. UCU is not directly linked to Open Saver, but we share many members and values. To find out more visit the Open Saver intranet page (OU staff only) or the Open Saver credit union history page (opens in a new tab). 

OU Club

UCU encourages membership of the OU Club, which cultivates a thriving social and civic environment inside the OU by providing social and recreational facilities to staff and retired OU staff. 

Past campaigns

Leaflets and newsletters associated with our past campaigns, such as the Four Fights campaign, the fight to save the USS pension, and the campaign against 1.3+ FTE, can be found on the leaflets and newsletters page.

Payslips 

Accessing your payslip

Quite a few Casework queries start with people not being able to access their payslips, and/or not being able to check that some key things are in order. Often the issue is browser settings, so each time it happens try the following: 

  • On the browser that you use to access the OU, clear cookies. If on Edge, go to settings-> privacy -> delete cookies. Close and re-open Browser.
  • On the OU hompage there are then two routes to payslips: one through Success Factors, and one via direct link https://p-pay.erp.open.ac.uk/payslip

Reading your payslip

On an OU payslip each pay item has a Reference Number, and at the bottom of the sheet this corresponds to a Personnel Number. The Personnel Number is then listed in Success Factors, under ‘My Employee File’ and the first item “OUCU ID”. If a person has multiple contracts with the OU these can be toggled between via the button (top right), which will allow all Personnel Numbers/OUCU IDs to be viewed. In addition, each AL has two Personnel Numbers; one for the payment of their permanent FTE and a second for processing any Additional Duties Contracts.

Where the Personnel Number is wholly associated with a single appointment, this will be displayed under the Success Factors ‘Employment Details’ section as the ‘CIRCE Appointment Number’. These numbers are sequential rather than unique: a person’s first appointment with the university will be 001, their second will be 002. 

Each AL workload allocation is given an individual CIRCE Appointment number, which is listed on their AL Workload Hub under ‘App number’. However, all an AL’s additional duties payments are processed via a single, permanent Personnel Number that is linked to any Additional Duties Contract payments they may receive. Unlike payslips under the previous AL contract, all Additional Duties Contracts paid in the same month should be combined into a single payslip item. 

If an AL believes that payment associated with an individual ‘App number’ has not been received, they should first confirm with the task manager for that workload item whether payment has been requested against it. Depending upon the payroll cut-off date, it may be due to be paid in the following month. If payment is still missing, please email FBS-Payroll and/or seek assistance from a Caseworker.

Pension and Payroll deductions

The OU runs multiple mechanisms for staff to pay for items from their pre-tax pay, or to be financially supported in other ways. This includes:

Colleagues with multiple contracts should have a matching items on their payslip for each one. For example, someone with an AL and a non-AL contract should see two rows of pay and two rows of USS deductions.

If the deductions are pre-tax they come out the ‘left hand’ column, which is usually more effective than being deducted from the ‘right hand’ column. This is not financial advice about whether it's right for you; read the documentation before making changes. But do look into it, because it is often a good idea.

Pension dependents, allocation, and expression of wishes

USS isn’t just a pension, it’s also insurance; which is why we fought so hard to protect it. This does mean extra forms. You need to complete the ‘Expression of Wish’ form to instruct USS on who would receive a life cover lump sum. You need to complete a different ‘Registration of Potential Dependent’ form to ensure that a non-married partner receives the equivalent of a spouse’s pension. There is also the ‘Allocation’ form to hold back some of your pension, so it is paid to a loved one on the event of your death. These are all separate forms, and they aren’t necessarily covered by a will. More information. 

Pensions and Severance or Redundancy

Can I access my USS pension if made redundant?  

Normal USS rules for accessing your pension apply whether you resign, accept voluntary redundancy or are made compulsory redundant. You must be over age 55 (increasing to 57 in 2028) to access your pension and if you are under normal pension age – 60 for pre-2011 service, 60 or 63.5 for service between 2011 and 2020, 65 from 2020 to 2022 and 66 from 2022- early retirement factors will apply where your pension is reduced for claiming it early.  You can get more information here. 

Can I get redundancy and ill-health retirement? 

In order to get ill-health retirement as an active member, you must be under normal pension age (66), be paying into USS for at least two years and suffer from a long-term illness in the view of your employer and USS. You will not be considered for ill-health retirement if you have left your job for any reason other than your illness. Redundancy is not normally considered as a reason for leaving other than your illness. You can get more information here. 

Active & Proportionate Indexation 

Under Rule 10 of the USS Scheme Rules, your pension is increased each year by inflation under what we know as the Soft Cap. When you retire on a date other than 31 March, USS must apply a scheme rule to calculate your pension entitlement. This date can have a negative or positive impact on your pension. You can get more information here and here. 

Essentially, if you are made voluntarily or compulsorily redundant on 30 March 2026 or before, USS will apply an inflation rate of 1.7% (CPI value at Sept. 2024) to your pension entitlement up to the date of leaving. If you are made redundant on 31 March 2026 or after, USS will apply an inflation rate of 3.8% (CPI value at Sept. 2025) to your pension entitlement.  

Branch Reps and officials can negotiate with employers a redundancy date to ensure members get the best outcome.  

Is it better to leave at the start or end of the month? 

Members can get a small benefit if they leave early in a month rather than at the end. If a redundancy date is in the first part of the month, their pension indexation prior to leaving will be estimated as if they left at the end of that month. So a member leaving on 31 March 2026 will have pension indexation up to date of leaving calculated until 31 March 2026 while a member leaving on 01 April will have pension calculated until 30 April 2026.  You can get more information here.  

Members may be aware of the discussion on both Rule 10 and the part-month issue by some negotiators and former negotiators, here, here and here.  

Pre-2011 Service and 60th Birthday 

There is a group of members known as ‘exempt members’ who retain age 63 ½ (or earlier Contracted Pension Age) in respect of service from 1 April 1995 onwards. Exempt members are final salary members who were members on 30 September 2011 and aged 55 or over at 1 October 2011, and were exempt from the changes to Normal Pension Age – to broadly align with state pension age from 01 October 2011. 

Basically, if you are an exempt member, have this pre-2011 service and access your pension before age 60, early retirement factors apply. These reductions are significant and can reduce your pre-2011 service by up to 18%.  

UCU have engaged USS to better understand this operational practice to see if we can change it. However, we understand that it was introduced when pension age increased in 2011 and is a benefit to those members aged 60 and over as they receive no reduction. There are likely to be a small number of members impacted, if any, as most exempt members will be aged 60 and over. 

Professional and ICT training

The university has released training on a variety of topics. If the OU is missing a form of training that would help you to do your job better or faster, let us know and we’ll try to negotiate it. If you are being denied the time or funding to undertake training, ask UCU for a Caseworker. Training on union matters is on the 'take part' UCU page.

  • For Microsoft 365 apps, including Teams, OneDrive, Excel and Word, see here
  • Thematic digital skills and capabilities are here
  • Organisational learning (including Staff Fee Waiver) is here

Recruitment materials

We have a range of posters, flyers and leaflets to help you promote UCU in your workplace. They can be collected from Room 015, Wilson C Block or downloaded from our recruitment materials page.

Reps and contacts 

All of our reps are listed on the reps and contacts page. 

Retired membership

You are welcome to remain a member after you retire. You can change your membership type to be "retired" on the MyUCU website or you can complete the form below.  We prefer members to tick the option to remain part of the OU branch of UCU, rather than to be part of the regional (Eastern and Home Counties) retired members branch.

Retired membership application form 2024-2025 (links to Word document, 81kb)

UCU Emails

To prevent UCU HQ emails from going to Junk Mail, add [email protected] and [email protected] to your contacts.

USS options

Colleagues paying into the USS 'main' Defined Benefit (DB) pension should receive an annual statement every year. They can also log in to the website to get a summary. The absence of either route is an indication that some details are missing from the member's USS record.

For the Defined Contribution (DC) part there is more detailed information. This can be viewed via the left hand Investment Builder toolbar -> View and Manage Savings. 

  • Check the ‘Normal contributions’ tab to see if there are any contributions based upon being over the income threshold.
  • Check if were any 'Normal contributions' during the period UCU were taking industrial action on pensions. USS dropped the threshold for contributions into the Defined Contributions (DC) section over this period, so members may have some for this period only.
  • In the ‘Additional Contributions’ tab, members can download a table that corresponds to the ‘AVC’ (Additional Voluntary Contributions) amounts shown on a payslip. This allows you to check that everything taken off your payslip has made it to USS.

Where members have ‘Investment Builder contributions’ they can choose a number of ‘lifestyle options'. One is the ‘Ethical’ option, which instructs USS to invest the individual's DC contributions in its ethical stream. Politically, choosing the 'ethical' option for your DC investments indicates to USS how many people are materially concerned about ethical investment, which affects their decisions on how to invest the DB scheme. See also the new DivestUSS petition.

It’s much easier to fix pension and payroll issues closer to the time they arise, so you may want to check things after getting a promotion or new contract. For anyone who was an AL under the old contract, we advise members to check that all the right things were opted in and turned on after the contract change.

Voluntary Severance and Voluntary Redundancy services

Colleagues considering a voluntary severance or redundancy application can receive union support in the following ways:

  • Offer: The university's levels of payment for voluntary severance have been agreed with the unions, and are significantly above comparable statutory requirements.
  • Financial advice: Members can receive a free initial consultation via Quilter Financial Advisers, to identify whether voluntary severance is appropriate to their situation.
  • Legal review: an employment solicitor must review and approve the final settlement agreement of any approved VS application. UCU can refer members to a trusted independent firm, who will review the settlement agreement and provide the formal legal advice that is paid for by the OU.
  • Individual advice: if you require specific advice about your personal circumstances, including how the scheme timelines link to the member's work pattern, UCU's trained caseworkers can help to navigate the process.