Secondment is leave taken to enable the individual to accept an appointment at another institution. The individual is paid direct by the other institution and comes off the School payroll for the duration of the leave. For further information, please contact your HR Adviser key contacts.
Entitlement
A member of staff may apply to be seconded for a period of up to two years. In cases where a strong case can be made on the grounds of public service, the Appointments Committee may agree to extend the period, subject to an absolute limit of three years.
Salary
Individuals who wish to be seconded should discuss the arrangements with the proposed sponsor. Sponsors should be alerted to the fact that the School will wish to clarify arrangements for Superannuation and related matters, and that in some circumstances it may claim additional compensation for the loss of services of the person concerned.
Secondment shall ordinarily be subject to the condition that no salary or other allowances will be payable by the School to the applicant as follows:
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Where the secondment is granted for three consecutive terms. The person will come off the payroll for a period of twelve calendar months, beginning on a date to be determined by the Appointments Committee.
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Where the secondment is granted for less than three consecutive terms. The person will come off the payroll on the first day of leave that falls in term and ending on the last day of leave that falls in term. However, if the Appointments Committee is satisfied that an adjustment is necessary to prevent the applicant's being in a worse financial position because of the grant of secondment, it may authorise payment to the applicant of a proportion not exceeding 50% of the salary and allowances normally payable by the School or, with the approval of the Council of the London School of Economics and Political Science a proportion exceeding 50%, but not exceeding 100%). This regulation has rarely been invoked.
Superannuation
In most cases of special leave (secondment), the host institution will not/cannot pay, either in full or in part, employer's superannuation contributions. Please contact the pensions team by emailing hr.pensions@lse.ac.uk to find out about the options available and to make arrangements.
Application Process
All applications for leave are considered on an individual basis. Applications must be made on the form available from the HR. The member of staff should complete the relevant part of the form and send it to the Head of Department and (if relevant) to the Head of the Centre or Institute concerned.
The Head of Department will complete the section of the form relating to the implications for departmental resources, and will make a recommendation. The case will then be considered by the Appointments Committee, which is responsible for ensuring that the standard of work in the School will not suffer as a result of the proposed arrangements, and will take into account the total amount of leave granted to members of the Department concerned.
If the request is approved, the papers will be passed to the APRC, which is responsible for the allocation of resources.