General notes on the procedure

These procedures apply to applicants for Lecturer A to Lecturer B, all established Lecturers, Senior Lecturers and Readers at Birkbeck:

1. The case for promotion (i.e. re-grading) may be made only on the basis of achievements clearly beyond those customarily required for satisfactory performance of a staff member’s duties (except for advancement from Lecturer Grade A to Grade B, where evidence of competent performance in teaching, research and administration is sufficient).

2. It is open to any Academic staff member to apply for promotion. It is also open to senior staff to encourage individual staff to apply.

3. Staff requiring informal, confidential advice about their careers, should contact their Executive Dean , the appropriate Assistant Dean or the Human Resources team in the first instance, or raise this during their progress and development review.

4. All members of staff seeking promotion need to make a personal application to the relevant College Review Panel (see individual schemes in menu to the left). The date when it meets is published in the College Calendar. In exceptional circumstances, the date may subsequently be revised and staff will be notified of the new date.

5. The members of the review panels are appointed by the HR Strategy and Policy Committee and are senior staff from across the College. There is at least one man and one woman on each panel. At least one member of the Human Resources team is normally present, as is a representative from UCU.

6. Staff will be notified by Human Resources of the procedure to use by general e-mail in good time before the closing date for applications.

7. Staff need to follow the relevant procedure, carefully adhering to its guidelines. A failure to follow them may result in an unsuccessful application. There is no constraint on candidates applying to more than one Review Panel.

8. When the Review Panel meets, it considers all the applications and decides the outcomes. The decision of the Review Panel is final and will not require the approval of the HR Strategy and Policy Committee. Promotions and any increments are awarded effective from the following 1 October.

9. On completion of the Academic Promotion Review Panel meetings, the Chair of the Review Panel writes to each applicant, advising them of the outcome of his or her application.

10. If a member of staff’s application is unsuccessful, the Chair’s letter will invite the applicant to meet the Chair of the Review Panel, or nominee, to obtain feedback. Applicants who wish to receive feedback must notify the Master's office within two weeks of receipt of the letter.

11. An applicant’s failure to have followed the procedure correctly will not be grounds for appeal.

12. If a member of staff wishes to appeal against the decision of the Review Panel which considered his or her application, he or she must arrange to meet the Chair of the Review Panel no more than two weeks after being notified of the Panel’s decision.

13. If the staff member, having done this, still wishes to appeal against the decision of the Review Panel, he or she must send a letter to the Human Resources team not more than two weeks after meeting the Chair of the Panel, stating the grounds for the appeal (see Appeal Procedure).

14. The College will not consider appeals against a Panel’s decisions, except where the Dean of the College, having consulted the College Secretary and Director of Human Resources (or nominee) agrees that there has been a fault in the procedure.

15. The cost of reviews conducted in 2012/2013 will be charged against the budget for 2013/2014 and the implementation of all reviews will therefore be dependent upon the provision of the necessary finance in the 2013/2014 budget. Should the budget, owing to unforeseen circumstances, be insufficient to meet the costs decided by a Review Panel, the decisions would be implemented in the following year’s budget.

16. All documents relating to the promotion of individuals are sensitive personal data, should be marked as 'Confidential' and should be handled in accordance with the Data Protection Act.