Pay and Contract Types

Pay

University employees are paid directly by BACS transfer (payment into a bank account), monthly in arrears.

Salaries are set to reach bank accounts on the penultimate working day of the month.

For more information on pay dates and salary scales, please follow the links on the right hand side.

Contract Types

There are three main types of employment contract available at the University of Oxford, details of which are available following the links below:

FIXED-TERM

Used for most researcher positions, but may also be used for other posts where there is a transparent, necessary, and objective reason for doing so. At the point at which the contract of employment is issued people on fixed-term contracts are given the reason(s)  why.  Examples include:

• The appointment is to work on (provide specialist expertise or experience to) a research project which is dependent on a time-limited external research grant and for which there is no expectation that the work will continue beyond the availability of that external funding
• The appointment is to cover temporary staff absence 
• The appointment is to provide specialist expertise or experience which is required for a specific time or for a specific project
• The appointment is to develop a product or service for which the outcome and future need is uncertain
• The appointment is specifically intended to provide a time-limited period of training or development 
• The appointment is limited to the fixed period for which the person concerned has been granted a valid visa or work permit.

OPEN-ENDED EXTERNALLY-FUNDED

These are used for academic/research related posts where the post is externally funded and there is a reasonable prospect that external funding will continue from whatever source for the foreseeable future. The work must also be central to the future plans of the department and therefore such that departmental will wish to continue to support it for at least as long as external funding is available.

PERMANENT

These are used where the post is funded from general university income and the work is essential to the future plans of the Department and therefore such that the Department will wish to continue to support it.

Non-employee engagement

Non-employees are those individuals who undertake work for the University on a non-employment basis, and do not hold CMS contracts of employment.

CASUAL WORKERS

Casual workers are hired on an irregular basis for a short period of time (no more than 12 weeks).  There is no continuing commitment from the employer to offer work, and no obligation on the part of the casual worker to do the work offered.