Handbook for Professional Services Staff in the Faculty of Law

Over 45 people work in the Professional Services Staff team in the Law Faculty.  If you visit our 'People' page and filter on 'Admin/Support Staff' page you will find a list of the Professional Services Staff.  Each person has a profile page, which provides a bullet-point summary of their duties, and we also have an A-Z listing of the functions of the administrative team.  Have a look through the list to get a sense of the huge range of skills and responsibilities of our friendly team.  

We try to make sure that all new staff have completed their paperwork before their first day of employment. This includes:

• Set up of the University card via the University online card system and activation of email account

• Access to HR Self-Service to add new starter details to your own payroll record, i.e. bank and other personal details

• Occupational Health Form (usually sent out with the offer letter )

• Pensions form (if opt-out required)

• Contract of employment

If you have not been provided with this documentation, or if you have any questions arising from it, please speak with the Faculty HR Team at personnel@law.ox.ac.uk

We use an 'induction checklist' that covers matters such as health and safety, building access, etc.

Your induction into the role will usually take the form of a number of meetings over the first few days/weeks of your role, normally organised on your behalf, to enable them to talk to you about your role and introduce you to the Faculty in detail.  These are informal meetings, also intended to help you build relationships with the key colleagues with whom you will be working.  The induction will also incorporate any systems or process training required for your role, and may include a handover from relevant colleagues.  

Each position in the Faculty has a brief description on the website that is used to describe the role, and you will be asked to provide a photograph for the website (or we can arrange to have one taken).  

There are separate sections on health and safety and wellbeing.

Post, photocopying, printing, stationery, computers, and other office equipment

Computing equipment

Standard provision for all staff is a laptop plus monitor with a docking station, mouse, keyboard, and a second monitor if required.  This is to enable staff to take their laptops to meetings, or home for remote working; and also to enable some flexible working in our office spaces.  We are moving towards 'Telephony over teams' meaning you will not be provided with a separate desktop telephone.

You are not required by the Faculty to work at home, and therefore the Faculty does not provide equipment for you to use at home, other than the laptop that is now standard provision for working onsite or remotely, or flexibly. 

File storage and collaborative working

Please visit our page on the O:Drive, OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint for information on our filing and sharing systems.

Stationery and printing

You will have access to a printer, though it may not necessarily be in your office. All stationery is ordered by the Finance Assistant. If you have any specific requests or have noticed a lack of anything in particular, please speak to the Finance Assistant. Stationery is kept in the photocopier room (ground floor near the Cube), along with cartridges and toner for printers, and other miscellaneous items.

Internal and external post

Internal and external post is collected at the Main Reception and sent to Wellington Square to be franked and posted, or distributed internally. If you have a piece of post to send, please make a note on the back of the envelope of the relevant cost centre. The Porters will then pass the post to the Messenger Service to be taken to Wellington Square. The messenger service collects post at 10.30am and 2.30pm each day.

Photocopiers and other equipment

The main photocopier and scanner is located in the photocopier and stationery store which is located downstairs across from the Cube.

Large printing jobs should be sent to Reprographics, though any costs should be cleared with your Line Manager before placing an order.

Room bookings

You are welcome to use meeting room 101, the 'locker room', the Faculty meeting room, and the sofa area by the Cube, for relaxation, in person and online meetings, and as a break-out space.  Please check with the Events and Timetabling Assistant to book in advance or make sure they are free before you use them.

There are various meeting rooms and seminar rooms in the St Cross Building that can be booked for meetings or other events as required.  Bookings are managed according to the St Cross Building room booking policy, which is available on request from the Head of Administration and Finance, Charlotte Vinnicombe.

Storage

Storage space in the Law Faculty is very limited.  Please feel free to keep smaller personal items in a locker in the 'Locker Room' by the Cube. 

We have an 'archive' room for documents we have a legal obligation to hold for certain periods of time, after which they must be destroyed.  We have the 'Resources' room which stores: IT equipment, admissions/outreach supplies, and our HR files.  Nothing should be put into that room that is not labelled, and if there is any confidential information the retention date must be clearly stated. 

The Law Faculty comprises many academic staff involved in both teaching and research. However, given the collegiate nature of the University, the majority of these postholders are based in colleges rather than the St Cross Building. For this reason you will find it useful to have access to list of Faculty members and their contact details. Information about academic staff and Faculty members can be found at the following location: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/people.

The University homepage also has a contact search facility that will allow you to search to telephone numbers and email addresses.

There is a section on the governance of the Faculty on our website.

Monday – Thursday 8.30 – 5.00
Friday 8.30 – 4.00
Usually with an hour for lunch.

There is scope for flexibility in the hours that you work, but these should be discussed and agreed in advance with your Line Manager, see section on New Ways of Working and Supporting Home Working.  

Changes can be made informally or formally, in line with the University Flexible Working policy.

If you work part time, or have a regular off/onsite working pattern, please add your arrangements into the signature of your e-mail and your Outlook calendar.  This helps your colleagues to see whether you are likely to be on site at any given time.  

The St Cross Building has a coffee shop which opens during term time only, which all staff are welcome to use, and there are full canteen facilities in the Manor Road Building next door, which Law staff may also use. Each office area has a small kitchenette that you are very welcome to use. Tea, coffee and milk are available. Please use the dishwasher for all used mugs, glasses, cutlery etc.  If there is a fridge, any out-of-date food that is not labelled will be disposed of.  The kitchens are kept tidy and stocked by us, so please do your bit to help with this - loading and emptying the dishwasher, wiping down, etc. 

Catering and Food Hygiene Policy

1. Food labelling – all food offered to staff and students should be labelled with information about alcohol and allergens.  There are some ‘sandwich flags’ on the noticeboard in the kitchen to label home baking. 
2. Food hygiene – please take care not to forget about food in the fridge.  Anything out of date (unless otherwise labelled) will be thrown away as soon as it is discovered. 
3. Over-catering & left-overs  – please note that some sandwich suppliers over-provide (for example assuming a round and a half of bread per person).  Please try to avoid over-ordering to avoid wastage.  If there are any left-overs that you think will be appreciated (and they usually are!) please e-mail law-office@maillist.ox.ac.uk as soon as you put them out, and throw them away after an hour.  Please wash the plastic trays and pass them back to the Porters for collection. 
4. Birthday cakes, holiday treats, etc. – please don’t ever feel obliged to bring these in, and remember that healthy options are treats too! 

The St Cross Building is managed by Facilities Management (FM), part of Estates Services. The full postal address of the building is:
St Cross Building, St Cross Road, Oxford, OX1 3UL

Main Reception (also referred to as the Porters' Lodge) telephone number: 01865 271481
E-mail stx@admin.ox.ac.uk

FM services are described on their webpage. Maintenance work, building works and other issues relating specifically to the St Cross Building will be communicated to staff by e-mail via the law-office@law.ox.ac.uk mailing list.

Further information about the building can also be viewed on the Faculty website here.

Maintenance issues should be referred to the FM Receptionist in the first instance, who will then liaise with the FM Team on our behalf.

Room booking requests should be made to the Timetabling and Events Assistant.

The building opens to coincide with the Bodleian Law Library opening hours, which are:

• Full Term (Weeks 1-8):
  • Monday to Friday 9am to 10pm
  • Saturday and Sunday 10am to 7pm (from end of 0th week to start of 9th week
  • Vacation:
    • Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm
    • Saturday 10am to 4pm
    • Sunday closed
• August & September:
  • Monday to Friday 9am to 7pm
  • Saturday 10am to 1pm
  • Sunday closed
• Other closure periods:
  • Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day inclusive, Good Friday, Easter Monday, August Bank Holiday weekend.

For the most up to date information, please check the Bodleian Law website.

Law Professional Support Staff should normally only work on site during office hours not building opening hours, as outside normal office hours the onsite FM support levels are only intended to facilitate library visitors and occasional events.

Staff must not work on site when there is no FM presence in the building, i.e. over night and during periods of closure.  

The FM facilities provided in the Manor Road are on the Estates Services website.  You can also find a downloadable guide for building users on the site.

As with St Cross Building, the Manor Road Building is open in line with the Social Sciences Library.  For card access outside these hours, and for any other building enquiries, please contact FM via the main reception, or the Building Manager.

University staff can enjoy a range of benefits, from attending open lectures to visiting the Botanical Gardens for free, to getting discount in some University shops.  A full list of benefits available to University staff is available on the University website.

Where possible, the Faculty of Law takes a generous approach to flexible home working, with the general provision being that, subject to the agreement of their line manager, Professional Services Staff may work at home for up to 60% of their time, unless operational requirements are such that they need to be on site more than this.  Front-facing staff are likely to need to be on site most, if not all, of the time.

Home or remote working under the New Ways of Working ('NWW') University scheme is not a formal contractual arrangement, so staff are expected to take reasonable steps to ensure that they can be flexible in response to ad hoc operational requirements, with reasonable notice.  Equally, the Faculty undertakes to ensure that staff working from home are not excluded from meetings, so where possible these will be arranged as hybrid meetings.  Despite the generous NWW provision, we do encourage staff to be on site more than the minimum 40%, and have updated our desk allocation policy so that every member of staff will have their own desk to work at when they’re on site.

The Faculty’s approach to equipment for home working matches that of the University (see NWW FAQs).  You are not required by the Faculty to work at home, and therefore the Faculty does not provide equipment for you to use at home, other than the laptop that is now standard provision for working onsite or remotely, or flexibly.  PSS are asked to complete an initial DSE self-assessment at home, and may request advice if needed, but it is their own responsibility to ensure that, if they work from home or elsewhere, they have a work station that is suitable for sustained periods of work.

If the equipment is needed because of a disability, or for a Health and Safety reason, please consult our HR Manager, Emma Gascoigne.  Equipment can be provided by the Faculty subject to a written note from a GP or Occupational Health, with guidance on its use.  

If for financial reasons a member of staff is not able to afford equipment to enable home working, they may make a request to the Faculty to be able to recycle decommissioned equipment owned by the Faculty.  This might include monitors, docking stations and other peripherals not covered by ITSG warranties, and will only be possible if such equipment is available and not needed for other purposes.  To make such a request, please speak to your line manager and then put a request in writing to the Head of Administration and Finance, Charlotte Vinnicombe.

Staff have 38 days of annual leave (and there is provision for additional days of leave for long service). The leave year starts on 1 October and runs until 30 September. This entitlement includes 8 bank holidays and 5 fixed closure days over Christmas when the Faculty is closed. The remainder of your entitlement is to be used up at other times throughout the year, in agreement with your Line Manager, and added to TeamSeer, which is our official record of your leave.  See also the section below on overtime, particularly with reference to working on Bank Holidays.

It is expected that staff will use up their full leave allowance within each leave year. In exceptional circumstances, it is possible to request that some leave is carried over to the next lead year. This will never be more than five days, and you should request this in writing to your Line Manager, together with a plan for when you intend to take the additional leave in the following leave year.  If you think you will have any difficulty taking all of your leave, it is essential that you speak to your line manager at the earliest opportunity to discuss how to enable you to organise cover. 

Annual leave will be requested and recorded via www.teamseer.com Please record your agreed leave on this software as this enables all staff to know others’ plans for leave.

Grades 1-5

The University handbook for support staff (grades 1-5) states that ‘Overtime is defined as time which, with the approval of the Line Manager, is worked in excess of the hours specified in the contract of employment’.

Overtime should never be worked without your Line Manager’s agreement in advance of the work being undertaken (except in very exceptional circumstances). This includes working any Bank Holidays that fall during term time. If you are asked to work overtime or on a Bank Holiday by a Faculty Officer or academic member of staff, you should still seek approval from your Line Manager in advance.

The compensatory arrangements should also be agreed before the overtime is worked, i.e. whether the person will receive payment or take time off in lieu ('TOIL'), though the normal expectation is that it will be taken as TOIL.

Occasionally, the Line Manager may need to ask a member of their team to work overtime, which will be agreed with the member of staff as far in advance as possible.

The rate of pay for overtime will be in accordance with the guidance on the Personnel website.

Arrangements for taking TOIL should be made in the same way as for annual leave: the date(s) should be agreed in advance with the Line Manager, and consideration should be given to the member of staff’s workload and the impact their leave may have on other staff. Staff should not assume that TOIL may be taken as soon as it is accrued, as all leave needs to be planned and co-ordinated to maintain the smooth-running of the offices.

May Bank Holidays

The St Cross Building stays open on both of the May Bank Holidays, as the library is open and teaching carries on as normal. It is not a requirement that all staff work on these two days, just a ‘skeleton’ staff to ensure that anything very urgent can be dealt with. All Bank Holiday working should be discussed with your Line Manager in advance, and with sufficient notice you may be asked to work one or more of the Bank Holidays that fall during term time, if there is an operational need for you to do so. If you are asked to work on a Bank Holiday, you will receive two days in lieu.   You may work a Bank Holiday by choice, but it will be treated the same as any other day of annual leave. 

Grades 6-10

The University handbook for academic-related staff (grades 6-10) states that ‘should it be necessary for longer hours to be worked, no additional remuneration will be payable’; and these staff are not entitled to claim ‘TOIL’. Academic-related staff are contracted to work such hours as are reasonably required to carry out their duties to the satisfaction of their Head of Department, and staff are asked to discuss any variation to their normal working hours with their Line Manager in advance.

If academic-related staff are requested to work on Bank Holidays, this will be compensated by the equivalent time off in lieu. Academic-related staff may be asked by their Line Manager to work on one or more Bank Holidays during term time if it is essential for operational reasons.

Leave should be co-ordinated with colleagues, i.e. taking account of workload and the impact leave will have on other staff, and agreed in advance with the Line Manager.  Leave during term time is possible, but as this is likely to have a greater impact it will need to be planned carefully with colleagues who may provide cover.  This is very much a discussion to have with your team/line manager, and colleagues are expected to support each other to take leave at their preferred times wherever possible.

Flexible working

An overview of flexible working in all its forms is available on the University HR website.

It is possible to make an informal or a formal request for flexible working:

An informal request: 

Temporary flexible working can be requested to accommodate complex personal circumstances, for a period of no more than one year, and might be a request for a change in working pattern, or a reduction in working hours (and pay).  It is advisable to approach your Line Manager first to discuss your requirements, and then make your request in writing (there is no application form).  The request will be treated in the strictest confidence, so you are encouraged to be open about the circumstances of your request.  The request might then be discussed with a Team leader or relevant Associate Dean/Director etc., if applicable.  The Head of Administration and Finance will discuss the written request with the Line Manager, and consider whether it can be accommodated, before the HoAF makes the final decision.  We understand that sometimes small changes to working patterns can make a big difference when you're dealing with difficult situations outside work, so we will do our best to accommodate your request. Requests for flexible working for reasons of sickness or disability would not be dealt with through this policy.  

A formal request:

If you wish to request more significant changes to your contractual terms and conditions of employment, you have a right to request this under the provisions of the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 (conditions apply).  The Regulations require that the process should be completed within three months of receipt of the application.  All applications are discussed with the Dean before the Head of Administration and Finance makes the final decision.  We would start by taking a positive approach towards a request for flexible working, but it is recognised that, due to the operational needs of the Faculty, we may not be able to accept a request.  Equally, you are encouraged to be flexible in your approach to requests and may be asked to consider alternative working arrangements that may be appropriate if your first-choice flexibility option is not possible.  You are strongly advised to read the guidance before applying, and are welcome to ask our HR Manager for advice before completing the application.  

Your wellbeing is really important to us.  We cover lots of aspects of wellbeing on the Wellbeing section on the intranet, which is for all staff, not just PSS, so please refer to that section for more information. 

There is a wealth of resources on the University Wellbeing at Oxford site.

And one resource we would like to highlight here is the Employee Assistance Programme, and emphasise that any approach to this service, whether referred or on your own initiative, is always treated as completely confidential.  The programme is designed to help you deal with any personal and professional problems that could be affecting your home life or work life, health and general wellbeing.

If you are ill and unable to come to work, please contact your Line Manager each day, preferably by telephone on the first day.  An e-mail will be sent to the Law Office mailing list to notify staff that you are absent, though no details will be given.  Please also record your absence on TeamSeer.  When you return to work, please fill in the absence form via Teamseer and your Line Manager will receive a notification asking them to complete the return to work form.

If you are ill for seven continuous days or more you will need to obtain a medical certificate from your doctor for your personnel record.

The University’s guidance will be followed – see section 4.1 Absence Through Sickness

If you unexpectedly need to stay at home to look after a dependant, please notify your Line Manager. We understand that this is often needed at short notice and sometimes under difficult circumstances, and we will be as flexible as possible to ensure that you can meet the needs of your dependant(s). The University’s guidance will be followed – see section 4.3 Time off to Care for Dependants.

HR Self-Service is an online HR portal enabling staff to access HR and payroll data, edit personal details and online payslips, from any device with an internet connection (via a University network or Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection).  

New starters should have access to HR Self Service from the first day at work. If you have any problems accessing HR Self Service, please contact the HR Team.

When you work for the Law Faculty, you are working for the University of Oxford, and together we all support Oxford's core mission of education and research.  Professional Services Together, launched by the Registrar, Gill Aitken, in 2022, is a new framework for developing a shared approach to supporting the mission of the University.  Professional Services Together is our collective ambition for how we work in support of the University's mission, focussed on our shared principles of collaboration, quality and people, and it helps our staff to thrive and make change that benefits us all.

There are lots of tools and resources for individuals and teams available on the Professional Services Together website here: Tools and resources | Staff Gateway (ox.ac.uk).

In Law, we will be incorporating the Professional Services Together approach through discussion and training over the coming months and years.  We want everyone to explore areas of interest to them, and please do tell us what you've learned!

All staff are invited to participate in the annual Personal Development Review.  This will involve an annual meeting with your Line Manager to discuss your progress in your role over the past year (if applicable), your goals and objectives for the coming year, and a general discussion of your work.  Further details about the PDR scheme are available on the University website, and you will be sent full notes of guidance in advance of each annual meeting.

The Law Faculty participates in the Reward and Recognition Scheme, which is the main university scheme that is intended to recognise exceptional work. 

The Reward and Recognition Scheme has two elements:

• an annual gathered field review, the Awards for Excellence Scheme, at departmental level, awarding incremental payments
• Recognition Scheme, under which smaller, more timely awards (£200 before tax in all cases) can be made at departmental level to recognise one-off, outstanding contributions at any time of the year

These schemes are expressly not intended to manage or reward issues related to workload, which should be managed through regular discussion with your Line Manager, or the PDR process.  If the operational needs of the Faculty change over time and this has an effect on your role, it is possible to request a review of your grade.  Please speak to your Line Manager about this if you think it might apply to you.

Promotion

All PSS posts at Oxford are graded using national HESA criteria, and the accuracy of the grade is checked before any post is advertised.  It is also the case that our Equal Opportunities Policy requires us to advertise all posts, except in certain exceptional circumstances.  We fully support personal and professional development within the role, but the underlying assumption of career progression at Oxford is that you will apply for a new role in order to progress through the grades.  

It should also be noted that we are not permitted to make retention payments if someone is moving to another role within the University, but these can be considered in execptional cases where someone is leaving the University altogether. 

Responsibility allowances can be agreed if staff are asked to take on additional duties at a higher grade on a temporary basis in line with the University policy on responsibility allowance

This would need to be agreed in advance of the member of staff taking on the additional duties in conjunction with the Line Manager and Head of Administration and Finance.

As a member of staff we encourage you to make use of the many opportunities to develop your skills by attending the training courses that are relevant to your role.  The Staff Gateway provides full details of a huge range of training available to staff, under the heading ‘Professional development’.  Your Line Manager will organise any systems training required for your role, but the two sections that most people find useful throughout their careers are:

People and Organisational Development: Courses and learning resources

IT Learning Centre: Digital Skills courses and resources

Your Line Manager may suggest suitable training opportunities to you from time to time.  If you would like to undertake any University training, please discuss this with your Line Manager in advance.

If you are interested in receiving training that is not provided by the University, please feel free to ask your Line Manager about this too.  The Faculty will be happy to consider requests for external training, professional qualifications, and in certain circumstances the University makes provision for time off for training and learning.  It is possible for us to make a contribution to the cost of external training, so please ask.  For example, sometimes it is possible for us to pay for training on the understanding that if you leave before a certain date you will repay part or all of the cost.   

Time off for training: employees who have at least 26 weeks’ continuous service with the University have the statutory right to request time off for training. The statutory right states that the purpose of the training should be to improve “the employee’s effectiveness in the employer’s business” and “the performance of the employer’s business”. There is no obligation to grant paid time off, or to pay for the costs of any training but employees have the right to have eligible requests considered within set timescales, and to appeal if the application is rejected.

Funding: Where Line Managers consider that the training is likely to improve the individual’s performance in their post, or improve the performance of the departments or section, departments may consider covering the costs of the training, including allowing the time required to undertake the course as paid time.  However under the “time off for training” scheme there is no automatic right to be paid for the time spent training, or for the costs of the training to be covered. In some cases it may be more appropriate to grant unpaid leave or to agree that the time will be made up within an agreed period, and for the individual to fund their own training programme.

Our People and Organisational Development (‘POD’) section offers some support for the costs of training in approved cases.

The Professional and Organisational Development section offer workshops, courses, programmes, networking opportunities and lots of other resources for professional services staff to learn and develop in their role. 

Mentoring

The Faculty does not operate a formal mentoring scheme for PSS, but the University does offer a mentoring scheme.  Within the Faculty, we value our detailed induction, training and line management provision, but if you would like a mentor, one can be identified for you, so please just ask your Line Manager.  This might be particularly useful if you are new to Oxford, or are the only person in the Faculty doing the sort of work that you do - in which case we would be happy to find you a mentor in another deparment.

Coaching

Please refer to the People and Organisational Development page on coaching to consider whether you would benefit from coaching, or would like to become a coach. 

Secondment opportunities are advertised on the University website in the same way as other vacancies and are advertised on the internal vacancy list via HR Self-Service.  We do our best to support requests to take secondments, as we see these as an important aspect of your career development, but it is not always possible for operational reasons.  Please speak to your Line Manager before applying, as you need their agreement to be released from your post if your application is successful. 

If you are considering a change in career direction and aren’t sure what to do, your Line Manager can arrange for you to shadow a colleague for a short period of time, either within the Faculty or elsewhere.  Please just ask.

There are many opportunities for staff to be involved in the wider work of the University, which can represent a career development opportunity for you, and provide a clear benefit to the group/project by having your experience or perspective.  Let your Line Manager know if you wish to be considered for any suitable opportunities that come up, and please always discuss any invitation or application to join a group/project before agreeing to do it.  Your Line Manager will wish to consider with you what impact such activity may have on your work in the Faculty, and how your involvement might be of direct benefit to your colleagues within the Faculty (you may, for example, be invited to brief your colleagues at an admin or team meeting).

‘Professional line management’ is a framework for the administrative and personnel support and development of all professional support staff in the Faculty of Law.  All staff have a line manager who is a member of the senior administrative team, and our structure accommodates the fact that many staff will also work very closely with a Faculty Officer (i.e. an academic colleague) rather than their line manager.  

The Head of Administration and Finance remains responsible for the management of the administrative and support team, including the allocation of duties. She is also responsible for ensuring that university policy and guidance, and practices within the Law Faculty, are implemented consistently, fairly and transparently.  Line Managers are required to undertake university training; to meet termly with our HR Business Partner; and are regularly updated on University HR policy and best practice.  

Training for Line Managers – the People and Organisational Development team now offer an online training course entitled 'The Confident Manager Series' which is a requirement for all line managers in the Law Faculty.  It is also recommended that line managers either subscribe to the People managers' mailing list or join the People Managers' Team to receive regular updates and training opportunities direct from the University.

Information and points of reference – the Personnel Services website, HR Support, provides a vast amount of policy information, guidance and support; the Personnel A-Z of guidance is particularly useful. The guidance on the HR support website must be followed in all cases, though Line Managers should always consult the Law Faculty HR Officer or Head of Administration and Finance if you have any policy or procedural queries. 

When dealing with queries from staff, Line Managers should always refer staff to the relevant University Staff Handbooks:

Academic-related staff (grade 6 and above, for professional support staff and research staff)

Support staff (grades 1-5)