REDEPLOYMENT

The University has an obligation to ensure that employees who are at risk of redundancy may look for suitable alternative work. If suitable alternative work is identified and if the employee is suitable to undertake it, it should be offered to the employee before the end of the employee’s current employment.

You do not have to pursue suitable alternative employment at the University. You may already have other arrangements or you may simply choose to do something different. If this is the case you should let your department know.

If you inform your department that you do wish to look for suitable alternative employment, the department will make all reasonable efforts to help you achieve this.

Redeployment within Oxford University

  • The department will nominate an appropriate member of department who will be available to provide you with advice and support during the redeployment process.
  • The department will give you access to any potentially suitable vacancies it has and, where possible, the opportunity to discuss them before they are advertised.
  • You have access to information about all University vacancies through the jobs and vacancies website With the support of your nominated facilitator, you should consider all advertised vacancies. As there is no guarantee that any suitable vacancies will arise at your current grade, you should not automatically rule out vacancies at a lower grade and/or involving a reduction in salary.
  • You have the opportunity to submit a priority candidate application, if you identify a suitable vacancy. This process is explained in more detail below.
  • You may be able to access any departmental or divisional bridging and career support funds which may be available to provide for continuity of employment across gaps in funding.

As redeployment constitutes a change to your contractual terms of employment, the University cannot redeploy you without your consent. But you should bear in mind that unreasonable failure to accept an offer of suitable alternative employment would put you at risk that you would not be entitled to a redundancy payment.

Looking further afield

You may wish to consider career options outside universities as well as within.

  • You have access to training relevant to improving your chances of finding alternative employment. In particular, you may wish to consult the Oxford Learning Institute ( and the Staff Gateway Training and Development pages
  • You are entitled to reasonable time away from normal duties to participate in such training and to search for a job.
  • Research staff have access to a dedicatedcareers resource( including career review, workshops, job search skills training and informal drop-in sessions.

Priority candidate process

A priority candidate is a University employee who applies for a vacancy at the University at the same or lower grade as his or her existing post and who is either a member of staff who has been told that he or she is at risk of redundancy and who has indicated a wish to be redeployed, or a disabled member of staff for whom redeployment to a more suitable post is being sought.

There are two ways in which a priority candidate may be given preferential consideration for a vacancy. When a vacancy is advertised, there should where possible be two closure dates for applications: the date by when all applications must be received (the normal application date) and another, earlier date by when priority candidates should make their applications (the priority application date). Your nominated facilitator is available to you to help you consider which vacancies might be suitable and to help prepare your application.

Priority application date

  • This is normally be set at approximately half way through the normal application period i.e. if the post is advertised for four weeks, the priority application date should usually be at the end of two weeks. Details of the priority application date will be given in the job description for the post.
  • If you believe you are suitable for a vacancy and wish to apply for the post, you should submit an application in the manner requested on the advert, making it clear that you do so as a priority candidate by attaching a copy of the letter you received from the department confirming your priority candidate status.
  • Provided that the application is received on or before the priority application date and provided you are not clearly unsuited to the post, you should be interviewed before any other candidates (if practicable, before other candidates are called for interview).
  • If, following interview, you are found to be suitable you may be selected for appointment (see selection and trial appointment below).

Normal application date

  • If you fail to apply for a post before the priority application date, provided that another priority candidate has not already been appointed under the above process, you may still be given priority consideration.
  • As above, you should submit an application in the manner requested on the advert, making it clear that you do so as a priority candidate by attaching a copy a copy of the letter you received from the department confirming your priority candidate status.
  • Provided that the application is received on or before the normal application date and provided you are not clearly unsuited to the post, you should be interviewed at the same time as other candidates, but, where operationally possible, you should be interviewed first on the first day of interviewing and, following all the interviews, your application should be considered by the panel before they go on to consider the other applicants.

Selection

  • Applying as a priority candidate does not guarantee selection.
  • It is for the selection panel to judge whether a particular priority candidate meets all the essential selection criteria, bearing in mind the applicant’s skills, abilities and experience as evidenced by the application, inter-departmental references and the interview and associated tests.
  • If the panel judges that you are suitable, or likely to be suitable after reasonable retraining, then the post should be offered to you on a trial basis (see below)
  • If the selection panel decides, for any reason, not to offer a vacancy to you, as a priority candidate, the panel must be able to show that its reason was based on a comparison of your skills, abilities and experience with those required for the post. The panel should provide feedback to you department for discussion with you.

Trial employment

  • The statutory length of the trial period is four weeks.
  • You should be aware that by starting a new post, on new terms, you will bring your previous contract of employment to an end (even if this is before the date on which your employment was scheduled to come to an end). The statutory trial period automatically begins when their old post comes to an end, and lasts for four weeks from that date.
  • If the trial period fails within those four weeks, the date your previous post came to end becomes the date on which your employment is treated as having come to an end. You will be entitled to whatever redundancy payment is due, provided that the ending of the trial period did not amount to an unreasonable refusal of a suitable alternative post by you. The payment is the responsibility of the original department.