Need to know – October

Top updates from across the University.


1. Christmas closure and annual leave

A reminder of the Christmas closure dates for 2024 and 2025 have been published and can be found on Staff News:

Christmas closure for 2024 and 2025

We would also like to take the opportunity to remind you that your annual leave should be taken within the current leave year which runs from 1 January to 31 December. Staff are allowed to carry the equivalent of one week over to the next year, however, this time must be used by 31 December or it will be lost.

If you work three days per week, you can carry forward the equivalent of these three days in hours. You can view your annual leave balance in People and Money and please refer to the Annual Leave Policy for more information:

Annual Leave Policy

2. eVisas for international staff

You may be aware the UK Government’s Home Office is switching the immigration system to a digital one. You might need to take action to ensure your documentation is in the right format.

These changes will see physical documents such as biometric residence permits (BRPs), biometric residence cards, stickers in passports, and ‘wet ink stamps’, including those for Indefinite Leave to Remain, replaced with an online immigration status called eVisa.

Further information is available on the international staff eVisa webpages:

eVisa

3. University Court statement on Responsible Investment

The University Court held a special meeting on Thursday 3 October 2024, to give additional time to members to consider the summary reports of two Short-Life Working Groups on aspects of responsible investment.

The conclusions of that meeting were further considered at the scheduled meeting on Monday 7 October. In addition to the outputs of the working groups, Court’s discussions were informed by technical advice from investment specialists.

Read the full statement
Court meetings: 3 and 7 October 2024