Flexible working incorporates any formal/contractual working arrangements where the number of hours you work or the time or place that you work varies from the standard practice.

You can request to work flexibly from day one of your employment and able to make two requests within any 12-month period.  Staff can apply for formal Flexible Working Arrangements at any time, although it is advisable to apply for one at the end of the calendar year/before a new calendar year starts if required.

If you require a permanent change to your working hours/arrangements, you will need to apply for a Flexible Working Arrangement to be considered. If granted this will become a ‘hard constraint’ during the scheduling process.

For full details of Flexible Working and to apply for a Flexible Working Arrangement, please click here.

Yes. Flexible Working Arrangements that are contractual are legally binding. The days and times that a staff member is not available are built into the timetable as an immovable/hard constraint.

No. If you are registered with DASS, they will provide the effect of any reasonable adjustments required for timetabling to the relevant Faculty Scheduling team.

Yes. If you are not available to teach between Monday and Friday, from 0900 – 1800 you will need to log your working arrangement with P&OD in order for them to share your availability with the Faculty Scheduling teams.

Yes. If you are not available to teach between Monday and Friday, from 0900 – 1800 you will need to liaise with your line manager to log, via the on-line form, your approved working arrangement regarding your teaching availability.

Please refer to the Flexible Working Policy.  After the deadline, if applying for a new or amended flexible working arrangement it also needs to be approved by your line manager.  As part of this approval, your line manager will also need to complete an on-line form regarding your teaching availability, that the Faculty Scheduling team will collate and implement any necessary adjustments.  If, however, your teaching activities cannot be adjusted without significant disruption to a published timetable, you will be contacted to discuss the earliest opportunity the arrangements can be applied.

It is strongly recommended that you contact your Faculty Scheduling team for an impact assessment for a proposed flexible working agreement before it is agreed to assess the impact on teaching delivery.

Please refer to the Flexible Working Policy.  Where informal or temporary needs continue for longer than three months, they should be formalised through this policy.

Flexible working arrangements that are contractual, are legally binding.  The days and times you are not available are built into the timetable as an ‘immovable / hard constraint’ during the scheduling process.

Conversely, Teaching Availability Arrangement applications may not all be granted. Those that are approved are considered to be ‘soft constraints’ in the timetable and may not be fully honoured. They are valid for one academic year and will not be rolled from one year to the next.

You will receive a ‘Thank you for filling out a Flexible Working Arrangement (FWA) Teaching Availability Form’, and able to see the responses you have submitted too that you can save / keep.

The ideal time to submit a planned FWA is before May, for the next academic cycle.  This allows the Faculty Scheduling Team to factor in your availability before the academic timetable is constructed.

If an FWA needs to be submitted once the academic timetable is published, it is strongly recommended that you contact your Faculty Scheduling team for an impact assessment for a proposed flexible working agreement before it is agreed to assess the impact on teaching delivery and the impact of any timetable changes.

It is strongly recommended that you contact your Faculty Scheduling team for an impact assessment for a proposed flexible working agreement before it is agreed to assess the impact on teaching delivery.

No, there is no need to resubmit.

The TAA process provides a mechanism for staff to request not to be timetabled to teach on certain days and/or times. Whereas a FWA is an arrangement relating to all aspects of work, a TAA is specific to the scheduling of teaching (e.g. you may be available to undertake research or other work-related activities, but not to teach).

Unlike a FWA – which is legally binding on both employer and employee - a TAA does not change any aspect of your contract of employment; instead, it is a request for some factor to be taken into account where it is practicable.    

Under the current Teaching Availability Arrangement mechanism, academic staff can apply for TAAs. If a GTA is assigned to deliver an activity that they are not available to facilitate, in the first instance an alternative GTA will be sought. If there is only one GTA that can facilitate a particular activity and they are not available, the School will submit a timetable change request.

TAA applications for the following academic year must be submitted by March.

The TAA application and approval process will take place once a year, and communications will be sent to Heads of School to cascade to staff each January. 

Each School will annually remind staff to submit their TAA requests for the next academic year in January. TAA requests must be made by completing a form which will be cascaded to all academic staff by March.

You can apply for a Teaching Availability Arrangement if you already have a Flexible Working Arrangement. 

No. You will need to provide a reason for your request and the days/times you wish to be made unavailable to teach.

The recommended way to do this is by submitting a Teaching Availability Arrangement application because your request will need to be assessed on an individual, case-by-case basis. In line with the TAA approvals process, the Dean of your Faculty or their Delegate will decide whether to grant a TAA for this reason or not.

If the TAA is granted it will be factored into the scheduling process, and if practicable, every effort will be made to protect this time; but this cannot be guaranteed for certain. 

No. The scheduling process attempts to make sure everyone involved in teaching has at least one day without scheduled activities. While this cannot be guaranteed for everyone for every week, it is true for the vast majority of colleagues for the vast majority of the time.  

Registered DASS arrangements for reasonable adjustments are not the same as Teaching Availability Arrangements. If you are registered with DASS, they will provide the effect of the reasonable adjustments required for timetabling to the relevant Faculty Scheduling team.

If you need to make a change to your availability to teach after the TAA deadline has closed you will need to request a change to the timetable. You should contact your Faculty Scheduling team to notify them of the new information. If this occurs after the timetable is published to students they may request that you submit a formal timetable change request.

All submissions will be assessed by a faculty panel convened by the Dean. It is recommended that the panel comprise of Heads of School, the Faculty Teaching & Learning Officer (Scheduling & Projects), and P&OD Partners.

Teaching Availability Arrangement applications may not all be granted. Those that are approved are considered to be ‘soft constraints’ in the timetable and may not be fully honoured. They are valid for one academic year and will not be rolled from one year to the next.

Each Faculty will manage the convening of the panel to assess the TAA applications. When the TAA applications open, your Faculty Scheduling team will liaise with Schools and PGR Services colleagues to establish the timeline for the assessment of the applications and associated communications. The Dean or their nominated academic delegate will inform colleagues of the outcomes of the applications.

Teaching Availability Arrangement applications may not all be granted and are valid for one academic year only.

The Dean or their nominated delegate will inform you.

No, as it is an informal request there is no appeal route.

You can apply for a Teaching Availability Arrangement to request that you be made unavailable for a particular day/time, though it is not guaranteed to be honoured during scheduling if approved.

If you are accepted on to conferences after the deadline for the Teaching Availability Arrangement applications and wish to change the timetable, you would need to raise a formal timetable change request via your School or the Faculty Scheduling team.

You can find contact details for People & OD Partners and Heads of People & OD here.

If you have a query over the availability of a technical staff member, please refer to the following colleagues:

FSE: Martin Coram (martin.coram@manchester.ac.uk)

HUMS: Jonathan Lillie (jonathan.lillie@manchester.ac.uk)

FBMH: Hayley Monk (hayley.monk@manchester.ac.uk)