11. Alison Jones Counter Proposal to SS proposed structure
Student Services Proposed structure
The rationalisation of creating a deputy director post.
In the proposed structure student services FTE posts have been radically cut.
What is the justification then of creating a new post i.e. Deputy Director and at what cost?
It is perfectly understandable that the SMG posts x 3 should be deleted.
These posts were created at a time when the department had 90ftes and the director in post was heavily involved in working on external projects with the then Vice chancellor.
As the department will be streamlined do we really need to create a deputy director? This seems rather like a luxury we cannot afford. In my opinion a way forward would be to change proposed structure as follows:
1. The Director heads up the department
Followed by the PA and an Operations Manager/Centre Administrator.
Or PA post to be extended to include centre administration role.
2. The Advice Service is headed by a Senior adviser who will line manage all advisers (which includes front line responsibilities) and report to
Director.
3. The Careers & Personal Dev Service is headed by a Manager or
Senior, who will report to the director.
4. Change to original restructuring document would be:
Accommodation Manager Post to be deleted and pulled. Savings from Deputy
Director post may allow for reinstatement of Int accomm post.
Campus Administration Post to be reinstated (see 1) or pulled with accommodation manager post to head up advice service.
Alison Jones
8/7/11

11a Comments on consultation exercise discussion and powerpoint presentation 8th June 2011 as given by Claire Powrie.
Comments
Campus Administration Manager
– deleted post
The present structure circulated at the meeting was not accurate in showing where this role sits. This job description which was effectively revised on
January 2008 has a direct report to the Director of Student Services. When the previous director resigned she put in place interim arrangements for all services in the absence of a Director (14/12/09). For this post the arrangements were that for the reception related work only the post holder would report to Claude Coopersmith, Head of Advice and Wellbeing and for the budget related aspect the report would be Carol Jones, Head of
Disabilities and Inclusion, who was given responsibility to oversee the student services budget in the interim period. I feel that having read the new structure as put forward by Claire Powrie that the duties and responsibilities for this post have been overlooked. A breakdown of these is as follows:
To monitor the Departmental Budget :manage a delegated budget in accordance with University Financial Regulations. To work with the Director to develop and maintain the Department’s budget. To include allocation of funds and monitoring for all sections within the department. To attend monthly finance meetings with the Director of Students Services representative from the Finance Department. To be responsible for front line student workers budget and payroll. Monitor spending on Department’s allocation of the administration monies from the Access to Learning Fund budget.
Risk if deleted: No monitoring of spending could result in overspend on tight budget.
To act as Health and Safety Officer for the department: maintain auditable records on risk assessments, safety inspections, accident reports and ensure that the Department’s Safety Policy is kept up to date. To liaise with the
University Health & Safety Officer and others as necessary. Post holder was appointed Safety Coordinator in the Department on 20/7/09. This was a new initiative set out by Health & Safety Department. This role has the authority of the HoD to order the immediate cessation of activities which he/she deems unsafe until appropriate control measures have been put in place.
Risk if deleted : Safety and wellbeing of staff and students could be compromised.
Coordination of University’s central induction activities during welcome week: This wo rk includes room booking and timetabling support services’ events over the enrolment periods, September and February. Ensuring event information is passed to Marketing on time for inclusion in Met fest literature and also available on line. Ensure the smooth running of events on the day, ordering and ensuring any equipment needed in rooms is booked in advance

and is available prior to events. To be first point of call at City in the event of any problems.
Risk if deleted: The coordination of these activities in the department is filled by this role and Claude Coopersmith. Both of these posts have now been deleted. These events promote our services to new students and are also an introduction to our services. If not coordinated or managed properly could result in showing department in a poor light.
Management responsibility: Reception work - To line manage the reception teams at both city and north campus and to review and plan reception operations at each site to ensure that they operate effectively.
Participate in the recruitment and selection of staff and student workers and take responsibility for development and appraisal as directed by the director of student services.
Other Management Responsibility: To be first management point of contact for Student Services staff at City Campus. Be able to deal with issues requiring immediate attention in absence of peers.
The above comments relate to my post. Below is my comments on other services.
Accommodation Bureau Manager
In the new structure under the Advice Service no other service has a
Manager. Why has the Accommodation Bureau Manager post not been deleted? If as is stated in the consultation paper that this post is being updated and the title changed to reflect the revised role then why is it not being pulled? If this post is to have supervisory/line management responsibilities over the other advice areas then deleted managers who fill relevant criteria should be able to apply.
Chaplaincy
New structure shows 2 x 0.5 posts, Sr Mary and John Scott.
These are not university posts and they are not 0.5 but much less.
Deletion of Iman post in present climate could be problematic for the university.
Careers Service
If it was known that there was a chance that Careers could be amalgamating with the enterpris e office then why wasn’t there two scenarios put on the table:
A) new structure including careers in cuts
B) structure excluding careers for the moment.
Don’t understand why this cannot be changed, answer given by Claire Powrie was if we include careers now then the cuts would be in addition to those already made, why is this if we have already cut the 800k+ that we were instructed.

Director post
Will be very difficult for a director to be in daily contact with services as is planned by this structure. How can he/she direct student services and libraries and also have a day to day line management of services.