Contractual benefits

Pensions

All employees at GCU will be auto-enrolled to the relevant pension scheme. For Professional and Administrative support roles as well as non-teaching roles, you will join the Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF). Academics will be auto-enrolled to the Scottish Public Pensions Agency (SPPA) contribution rates can be found. If you are a current member of the USS you will only have the option to participate in USS and you will not have the option to join any other pension scheme GCU offers.

Strathclyde Pension Fund

Employee contributions for the SPF will depend on your annual full-time equivalent rate of pay. More information on contribution rates can be sought by emailing peopleservices@gcu.ac.uk.

The SPF scheme also has a 50/50 option. During difficult financial times, you can choose to pay half contributions and, during that time, add half pension into your account. The University will continue to pay full employer contributions and you still keep the full value of your life and ill health cover.

Scottish Public Pensions Agency

Employee contributions for the SPPA will depend on your full-time equivalent pay are is on tiered rates.

Annual leave

The annual leave year runs from 1 October to 30 September each year. Annual leave entitlement for full-time employees can be found in the table below:

Job family	Annual entitlement	Public days
Professional and administrative support	33 days	13 days
Academic, research and enterprise	35 days	11 days
Senior management academic	35 days	11 days
Senior management support	35 days	11 days
Senior management executive	30 days	14 days

Please note that the three working days between Christmas and New Year are included in the public holiday allocation for professional and support staff.

For staff who work on a part-time basis, annual leave is calculated on a pro-rated basis and is calculated inclusive of public holidays. Any public holidays that fall on the days that are normally worked will be deducted from the total annual entitlement.

Maternity, adoption, paternity and shared parental leave

Maternity and adoption leave - The University will allow up to a maximum of 52 weeks’ leave, consisting of 26 weeks of ‘Ordinary Leave’, which may be followed immediately by up to 26 weeks of ‘Additional Leave’.

In addition to the Statutory Maternity Pay entitlement, the University operates an enhanced Maternity Pay policy for eligible employees.

The entitlement is dependent on the length of service at the Expected Week of Childbirth (EWC).

Eligibility	Maternity pay entitlement
At least 52 weeks service at EWC	19 weeks full pay, 20 weeks at the current rate of Statutory Maternity Pay and up to 13 weeks additional unpaid leave.
At least 41 weeks service at EWC	9 weeks’ pay at 90% of their normal week’s pay, 30 weeks at the current rate of Statutory Maternity Pay and up to 13 weeks additional unpaid leave.
Less than 41 weeks service at EWC	up to 52 weeks unpaid leave possible Maternity Allowance up to 39 weeks, paid weekly by Jobcentre Plus.

Paternity leave - The University will allow up to a maximum of two weeks’ paid paternity leave, consisting of one week’s leave at full pay followed by one week’s leave at the statutory paternity leave rate.

Shared parental leave (SPL) is designed to give parents more flexibility in how to share the care of their child in the first year following birth or adoption. Parents will be able to share a pot of leave and pay, and can decide to be off work at the same time and/or take it in turns to have periods of leave to look after the child.

Annual increments

On 1 April each year, most GCU employees who have commenced employment prior to 1 March will receive an increment on their salary until they reach the top of the scale. In addition, the majority of GCU employees are covered by national (UK) pay bargaining arrangements which are implemented through the GCU Salary Scales.

Flexible working

At GCU, we recognise the positive impact flexible working can have on staff engagement and motivation, the role it plays in improving the health and wellbeing of our staff, and as a consequence the important contribution it can make to reducing absence, increasing business efficiency, productivity and enhancing staff loyalty.

Flexible working describes working arrangements that give degrees of flexibility to staff around when and where they work. Reasons for making a flexible working request are not limited – some of the requests facilitated in recent years have included childcare, caring responsibilities for a family member, flexible/phased retirement, participation in voluntary activities/charity work and pursuing development of skills.

GCU aims to support a flexible work culture and encourages staff to discuss reasonable flexible working requests with their line manager in the first instance.