As stated in the Haddington Road Agreement:
“Academic staff will work an additional 78 hours per annum. This will be applied towards evening weighting (which will be reduced from 1.5 to 1.25) and church holidays.”
Clarification on the above: How the extra hours will operate at third level?
The entirety of the 78 hours are offset against/absorbed by the reduction in evening weighting hours (from 1.5 to 1.25) and the withdrawal of church holidays. The practical implementation of this means:
- Where academic staff are timetabled after 6pm they will receive a weighting of 1.25 hours for each hour timetabled, instead of the 1.5 hours that currently applies.
- Where a college was closed on a church holiday or where church holidays were grouped together in line with local agreement the college would now be open and academic staff could be timetabled for normal teaching hours, subject to the weekly norms plus flex.
The 78 hours are fully absorbed by the reduction in weighting and the church holidays. There is no individual liability on academic staff to teach an additional 78 hours. There is no collective or aggregated liability. None of the hours can be applied to teaching/lecturing outside the specified church holidays/grouped days.
In effect, the offset/absorption in respect of the reduced weighting for working after 6pm is a quid pro quo.
The above position has been clarified and confirmed.