Updated staff FAQs: staff with caring responsibilities, Right to Work visa
20 Mar 2020
Staff FAQs will be updated regularly
This advice is correct at the time of publication of this news article.
If you have health concerns then you should refer to the NHS website as recommended by Public Health England, however to make other queries regarding the current situation you can email Coronavirus-info@manchester.ac.uk.
We will be updating the staff frequently asked questions on a regular basis.
The latest questions are:
Now that nurseries and schools are closing or have closed, what is advice to staff who are juggling working from home and caring for children? What about colleagues who have other caring responsibilities?
We understand that balancing your caring responsibilities with working from home is going to be challenging. We know that you may not be able to commit to carrying out a full or ‘normal’ day of work in these circumstances and we thank you for everything you are doing to keep the University operating during this very difficult period.
If you are worried or feel you are going to struggle, please speak first of all to your line manager to see what options or arrangements can be put in place to help you. Please be assured that whatever arrangements you agree with your line manager, you will continue to be paid as normal during this period.
In rare circumstances where you and your line manager are not able to find a workable solution you can consider taking Special Leave – we have introduced an extended period of Special Coronavirus Leave which means you can take up to 14 days of paid leave to help in emergency situations. Please talk to your line manager and HR Partner about applying for this. If you do take Special Coronavirus Leave you will still be able to apply for up to five days of Special Leave for other reasons at other points in the year.
These arrangements may be reviewed if the campus does not fully reopen over an extended period of time.
What about my Right to Work visa?
The Immigration Team in HR Services will continue to monitor current staff’s Right to Work visas and will manage any extensions that are required. Visas will also be managed for any new staff starters that have a signed contract or have a confirmed start date. No other visa management will take place during this period. More information is available at on the Government’s website.