Agency Worker Authorisation and Sourcing Process

Agency Worker Authorisation and Sourcing Process

1. Background

In order to ensure the most appropriate use of resources and in an attempt to better control non-pay expenditure in relation to Agency Workers the University has introduced a new process for approving such requirements with effect from 3rd September 2012.

From this date, anyone wishing to engage or extend an Agency Worker, must first complete one of the following approval processes depending on the equivalent grade of the role to be filled or services delivered.

1. Process

All managers should initially raise their resource requirements through an informal conversation with their HR BP and the budget holder for the area to gain verbal agreement on the most appropriate approach. If an Agency Worker is considered the most appropriate approach then one of two routes must be following to ensure approval is gained:

Reed Specialist Recruitment Grades 1 – 6

All agency staff requirements between Grades 1 – 6 will be provided by Reed who are Universities preferred supplier for the provision of temporary Administrative and Ancillary roles.

Reed will act as the primary supplier, and will provide an initial single point of contact for all recruitment requests for the above types & grades of staff. The contract will be managed by Reed Manchester and they will be responsible for managing the co-ordination and fulfilment of authorised orders, either directly by Reed or through a panel of contracted support supplier agencies.

All Recruiting Managers will be required to place their requests for temporary Agency Workers directly onto Reed's Electronic Managed Agency System (REMAS). The request will be routed on the system for authorisation, firstly by HR Business Partner and then Finance. Once authorisation is complete Reed’s Consultantswill then acknowledge receipt of the order, and make contact with the Hiring Manager to discuss any additional details that may be required, before over-seeing the fulfilment of the request. Once approval has been granted Hiring Managers will then be able to track the progress of their vacancy, view CV’s and arrange interviews, via the REMAS system.

There may be occasions when you have an urgent request for temporary staff to start within very short timescales, and in these circumstances, the job should be submitted to REMAS as soon as possible to minimise delays. Separate discussions with both the Authorisers and the Reed Co-ordination team would help to ensure that activity can be commenced in advance of REMAS approvals. Once approval has been processed on REMAS, the role can then be filled with the minimum of delay.

When completing a request for staff on REMAS most of the information requested is mandatory. This is to ensure that Reed are able to process your order. Much of the required information is self-explanatory such as start & finish dates and times, however you will be required to provide a Project Code (cost code) – this is code containing 4 Alpha characters followed by between 2 & 4 Numeric characters. For example, ABCD12 or EFGH3456If you require confirmation of what the Project Codeis for your booking please contact your Finance team who will be able to advise you accordingly.

Please note that any extensions to contract or changes to a contract that result in a change in grade will need to be re-routed through the approvals process.

• For Extensions to contract this can be done via the Extensions tab on REMAS.

• For changes to a contract that result in a change in grade you should ask Reed staff to end date the original booking on the system and then create a new order which should be routed through the REMAS approvals system.

The REMAS system is an online system and is accessed through the internet at:

Specialist Agencies for Grade 7 and Above

Temporary Agency Workers at Grade 7 and above are often supplied by specialist agencies, therefore the ‘REMAS’ requisition and approval system cannot be used for such requirements. However, the hiring manager will be required to complete an electronic infopathform detailing the reasons for requirements which mirrors the REMAS approval process. This form will trigger the requirement for approval by the HR Business Partner and Finance before an order can be progressed with the agency.Prior to completing the form approval from the budget holder must be gained and a cost centre for budgeting must be provided before the form can be approved by the Business Partner.

Please note that any extensions to contract or changes to a contract that result in a change in grade will need to be re-routed through the approvals process

• For Extensions to contract this can be done via the electronic infopath form.
• For changes to a contract that result in a change in grade you should ask the appropriate agency to end date the original booking and then you should create a new infopath order to go through the approvals process.

The Electronic form to request and Agency Worker can be accessed through the HR website.

Business Areas may already have arrangements in place with specialist agencies however please contact HR Central Services for any further advice

The flowchart below outlines the requisition process for all Agency Workers.