Frequently asked questions

The New Research Staff Career (NRSC) will enable the School to better support and develop research staff who are delivering outstanding and original research. It will apply to research staff in Bands 7 to 10.

Specific changes include:

• A new three-tier job family
• New job titles and role profiles (Assistant Professorial Research Fellow, Associate Professorial Research Fellow and Professorial Research Fellow)
• Higher minimum salaries, though contribution-only pay increases

The existing career structure of Bands 7-10 will continue to operate, with a review in 12 months’ time. 

The new role profiles redefine the expectations upon research staff in terms of research quality and productivity as well as placing a greater emphasis on knowledge engagement and impact, thereby recognising the importance of LSE research reaching wider audiences, informing public debate and having a real world impact.

Researchers who joined LSE through an open recruitment process can automatically move to the new structure, if they are willing to accept the new role profiles associated with the NRSC. These staff are in ‘Category A’.

Researchers who were appointed to LSE through either a single nomination or a named researcher process, but who have subsequently been promoted, can also migrate automatically, if they are willing to accept the new role profiles.  These staff are also Category A.

Researchers at Bands 7-10 who were appointed to LSE through either a single nomination or a named researcher process, and have not subsequently been through a promotion process to a higher grade, will need to have their case considered at the Promotions Committee.  Staff to whom this applies are in ‘Category B’

No.  The Band 7-10 research career track will remain open, for both promotion and for future recruitment (where the needs of the post are different to the NRSC role profiles).  This will be reviewed 12 months after implementation.

The implementation of the new career structure is already underway and cases for Promotions Committee will be considered in Summer Term 2015.  All decisions and pay amendments (including back pay) will be processed by 31 July 2015, for payment in August 2015.

The effective start date of the NRSC is 1 August 2015

There has been extensive consultation with UCU, the recognised trade union representing research staff. 

Whilst numbers naturally fluctuate, there are approximately 87 staff on salaried research-only contracts at Band 7 or higher who could migrate or apply to migrate to the NRSC.

The majority of research staff who migrate to the NRSC are likely to see a pay rise. Any member of staff who receives a pay increase as part of migration will have this backdated to 1 August 2013. Staff who started after 1 August 2013 will have any increase backdated to their first day of employment in a relevant role.

If your current salary is below the NRSC minimum for the relevant role, your pay will rise to the new minimum salary if you migrate to the new structure. However, those whose basic salaries are already above the new minimum salaries will not receive a pay rise upon migration.

The School will cover the costs of any salary increases for the duration of existing research contracts, although we may approach certain funders to establish whether it is possible to pay for salary increases from within existing budgets.

For future grants applications involving staff who have moved to the NRSC, the new role profiles and salaries will need to be built into the application and the funder will therefore need to be willing to cover the cost of the entire salary.

No. In order to benefit from the new salary structure, an existing staff member must migrate to the NRSC and must accept and be willing to work to the new role profile.

Likewise, it is not possible to remain on the old career structure and change your job title to those under the NRSC.

Yes, this could impact on your pension in two different ways:

1. As USS is a defined benefit pension scheme, an increase in salary could lead to a larger pension being paid at retirement date. For details of how your pension is calculated please view here.
2. HMRC does set limits on the amount of benefit an individual can build up on a tax free basis in a single year (the Annual Allowance) and also over a lifetime (the Lifetime Allowance). Salary is one of the factors used in calculating if a person has exceeded these allowances. Further information about these calculations can be provided by the pension team or found here and here. If Lifetime Allowance or Annual Allowance is exceeded, there is the possibility of a personal tax liability. You can seek information from the Pensions Team by contacting Laura Edge at l.j.edge@lse.ac.uk.

If you are eligible for auto-migration and you want to join the NRSC, you don’t need to do anything at all, as the School is operating on an active “opt-out” basis, rather than an active “opt-in”. 

The deadline for opt-outs is 1 May 2015.  You can opt-out by returning a signed copy of your NRSC letter to HR either by hard copy or by scanning a signed copy and emailing it to hr.nrsc@lse.ac.uk.

We expect that all eligible research staff will want to be in the NRSC, so if we do not receive any correspondence from you we will assume that you want to move across on 1 August 2015.

Category B means that you did not join LSE through an open recruitment process nor have you been through a research promotions process.  As a consequence of this, the Promotions Committee will need to review your CV and a sample of your work, to ensure that all staff have been reviewed to a similarly rigorous degree. 

You will need to complete a CV, on a standardised template, and submit this along with a selection of writings by 1 May 2015, to hr.nrsc@lse.ac.uk, with your Head of Department copied in.

Detailed guidance on how to complete the CV template and how many writings to submit can be found at www.lse.ac.uk/nrsc. You are strongly encouraged to work through this guidance carefully.

If you believe that you have mitigating circumstances that may have affected your ability to meet the new role profiles, you may also declare this to HR along with your CV.  This information will be reviewed in confidence by a relevant member of HR and the Vice-Chair of the Appointments Committee.  The Promotions Committee will not be informed of your personal circumstances.

The Promotions Committee will meet towards the end of Summer Term and their decision about your case will be communicated in July 2015.

The CV template is designed to ensure that you give all of the relevant information that the Promotions Committee will need to know to assess your case.  This therefore gives you the best chance possible to present your case as fully as you can.

Using a standard template also helps the Committee to make sure that it is being fair and consistent, as it can more easily compare like with like.  This also helps to ‘level the playing field’ for candidates, to mitigate the advantage of those with stronger CV writing skills.

No, there is no right of appeal to decisions made by the Promotions Committee.  However, anyone who is informed that they do not yet meet the requirements of the role profiles will be given a clear reason for this and will be invited to receive further feedback in person with the VCAC.

If you choose to remain on the existing career structure at this time you can still be considered for the NRSC in the future, though the process for this may change.

The processes that are currently in place for both Category A and Category B staff are transitional arrangements as we implement the new career structure.  For example, the offer of back pay recognises that many staff have been waiting a long time for the NRSC to be implemented.  So if you actively choose not to move to the NRSC at this time, your entitlement to back pay will cease.

Post-implementation arrangements will be developed in the coming months and will be published on the intranet once they are available.

Not at all. Some research posts are less focused on research outputs and are instead focused on other important areas of activity, such as policy or communications. The NRSC roles may, therefore, feel like less of a ‘match’ than your current role profile, and you may want to stick with the role profile you have. This is entirely legitimate and you will not be judged or suffer a career detriment if you think the expectations of the NRSC roles are not right for you.

Equally, you may not have built up the evidence to demonstrate that you can meet an NRSC role profile at this point in time. That does not mean you won’t develop the necessary experience and evidence in the near future. 

The NRSC is an exciting development for researchers at LSE but this does not make the existing career structure a second-rate pathway. The NRSC will complement rather than compete with what we have already.