1.1. The following general principles and procedures are the result of agreement between King's College London (KCL) and King's Health Partner NHS Trusts (Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts) (hereafter called "the Trust") in which "Clinical Academic" staff substantively employed by KCL may hold an honorary appointment with the Trust or vice versa, in order to carry out the full remit of the duties of their substantive appointment; and is intended to provide a framework for co-operation between KCL and the Trust for the joint management of employment relations and associated matters for such staff, hereafter called the "Shared Employee(s)".

1.1.1. The parties agree that this Protocol does not create any legally binding obligations between the parties.

1.1.2. This Protocol supports and supplements the Follett Review principles for health and care professionals.

2.1. A "Clinical Academic" for the purposes of this agreement only is either:

2.1.1. an employee who holds a substantive contract with KCL, and is a registered health professional, who holds an honorary contract with the NHS to undertake clinical duties in the Trust. This includes allied health professionals, psychologists, psychotherapists, pharmacists, healthcare scientists, nurse, midwife, doctors or dentists (including those in specialist training) holding an active HCPC, UKCP, NMC, GMC or GDC registrations, and where relevant, a licence to practice; or

2.1.2. an employee who holds a substantive contract with the Trust who is clinically active and is a registered health professional (as above in 2.1.) with an honorary academic appointment with KCL and has dedicated time for academic/university work.

2.2. “Allied Health Professionals” are defined as people who work in healthcare professions distinct from dentistry, nursing, medicine, and pharmacy. They provide a range of diagnostic, technical, therapeutic, and support services in connection with healthcare, for example, occupational therapists, dietitians and podiatrists.

2.3. The definition of a "Shared Employee" for the purpose of this agreement is any Clinical Academic employee who holds a substantive appointment with either KCL or the Trust and is required to hold an honorary appointment with the other partner in order to undertake the full remit of the duties of their substantive appointment. This definition shall not be construed as creating any form of shared employment liability. The post holder shall remain solely employed by the organisation that issued the substantive employment contract. Their work is jointly utilised, managed, or funded by multiple partners. This definition aligns to the Follett Principles and is inclusive of professions including those named in 2.1.1.

2.4. A number of employees who conduct both clinical roles and academic activities across partners may not meet the above definition of a Shared Employee or Clinical Academic. Most often this may apply to an employee with a substantive clinical NHS contract and an honorary affiliation with KCL which recognises academic contributions, often without any financial flow of funds between partners, or where the two areas of work are not considered interdependent. Whilst the principles outlined in this document therefore may not strictly apply, it is the partners ambition to move towards creating true clinical academic pathways for these groups aligned to Follett Principles.

2.5. A Shared Employee may hold any level of appointment at KCL and may hold any level of appointment at the Trust (medical or non-medical). This agreement does not apply to, nor confer any rights or obligations upon, any commercial partners associated with either the Trust or KCL.

2.6. The substantive KCL contract and the Trust honorary contract together constitute a contract of employment and will include explicit reference to each other in their terms of employment. KCL and the Trust will each appoint a line manager for the Shared Employee to ensure the full execution and management of each employment contract.

2.7. KCL and the Trust recognise that as far as possible those separate employment relationships should be regarded as a whole, reflecting the fact that the performance of duties under the honorary contract is essential for the full and proper performance of the duties under the substantive contract in accordance with the Follett principles.

2.8. KCL and the Trust seek to ensure joint co-operation in their dealings with the Shared Employee, in particular with regard to issues of appraisal, review, Job Planning, work outline agreements, dismissal, termination, discipline, professional leave requirements (taking in account service needs) and absence management.

3.1. KCL and the Trust will in line with the KHP Honorary Passport develop and keep under review joint recruitment and selection procedures for Shared Employees, facilitating representation of each organisation, as appropriate, within the process. Regulatory body approval will be sought for any such appointments, where required, by the Trust. Both joint employers will confirm financial approval and funding prior to recruitment, based on an agreed division of the post's responsibilities between KCL and the Trust and the agreed salary range.

3.2. KCL and the Trust will confirm prior to the recruitment process the duration of the commitment to the Shared Employee contract, the distribution of duties and work time between the substantive employer and organisation issuing the honorary appointment.

3.3. KCL and the Trust will ensure local procedures facilitate (within the confines of the law) the sharing of appointment and personal details by the substantive employer to facilitate the issue of the honorary appointment.

3.4. KCL and the Trust will seek to develop and deploy joint induction processes for Shared Employees. Where these are not feasible or practicable, the Shared Employee attends both organisations' induction programmes and/or mandatory training; retaining completion records that can be shared between KCL and the Trust, as and when required.

3.5. For medical and dental Clinical Consultant appointments, National Guidance on the Employment of Consultants will be followed including appropriately convened Advisory Appointment Committees.

4.1. Under current UK Home Office regulations, KCL and the Trust acknowledge that a Shared Employee must hold where required of the role an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Scheme (DBS) clearance with at least one of the joint employers. KCL will apply for such clearance on behalf of itself and the Trust for Shared Employees employed by KCL. If the Home Office requires separate applications to be made, KCL will notify the Trust, and the Trust shall make its own application. In the event DBS clearance is denied this will be reported to the Chief People Officer or equivalent of the requesting organisation, who will advise in confidence their counterpart in the partner where the honorary appointment is held.

4.2. In accordance with UK Visas and Immigration regulations, KCL and the Trust acknowledge that a Shared Employee must hold the requisite authorisation to work in the UK with both their substantive employer and the Party where the honorary appointment is held. In instances where Permission to Work in connection with a substantive appointment is declined, this will be reported to substantive employer's Chief People Officer, who will notify in confidence the Chief People Office or nominee in the Party where the honorary appointment is held.

5.1. With exception of the Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Scheme (DBS) clearance, which will comply with the conditions as stated above at 4.1, and the right to work checks referenced at 4.2 above, which each Party is required to carry out, KCL and the Trust may at its discretion accept confirmation of pre-employment checks carried out by the other organisation, provided that they are carried out in line with required standards in KCL and the NHS. If either Party makes a change to the pre-employment checking standards, the Chief People Officer or nominee must notify the other organisation.

5.2. KCL and the Trust will ensure that their appointments (honorary or substantive) contain provisions which allow the terms of this Protocol to be fully implemented and shall disclose to each other and discuss on a regular basis the contents of the template letters of appointment which each will issue to Shared Employees.

6.1. Where, subsequent to appointment at KCL, an employee requires an honorary contract with the Trust (or vice versa) in order to complete their duties for their substantive employer, KCL and the Trust will, from the point of issue of the honorary contract, consider the individual as a Shared Employee and subject to the terms of this Protocol.

7.1. The level of KCL academic appointment (substantive or honorary) held by a Shared Employee will be determined by KCL. Any request for academic promotion will be considered within the appropriate KCL process.

7.2. The level of clinical appointment held by a Shared Employee (either substantive or honorary) will be determined by the Trust and any request for clinical promotion will be subject to Trust procedures and funding.

8.1. KCL and the Trust shall agree procedures for either the joint or collaborative appraisal of Shared Employees. As part of the agreement every attempt will be made to synchronise the timetable for the appraisal process.

8.2. KCL and the Trust agree to facilitate annual joint / collaborative appraisals which will be conducted by the KCL line manager and Trust line manager either at the same time or concurrently, in line with the Follett principles. The KCL line manager will be confirmed by the Head of Department or equivalent and the Trust line manager by the Head of Clinical Service or equivalent.

8.3. The KCL and Trust appraisers will share the outcome documents of their appraisals with each other and agree the joint appraisal outcome, notifying the Shared Employee accordingly.

9.1. All Shared Employees are required to complete a joint annual process (Job Planning for medical/dental consultant level staff, work outline document for non-consultant level staff or equivalent for other health professionals) detailing the duties to be undertaken for both their substantive and honorary employers, which requires the sign-off of both the substantive and honorary employer in order to be considered authorised by both employers.

9.2. As part of the agreement between KCL and the Trust every attempt will be made to synchronise the timetable for the job planning/work outline process as well as standardise paperwork.

9.3. KCL and the Trust agree to implement established local procedures to ensure the timely review and sign-off of both Job Plan (for clinical consultants and GP Clinical Academics) or, for other types of Shared Employee, work outline documents such as a shared job description, to include submission of fully authorised documentation to the respective Human Resources or staffing offices. KCL and the Trust note that the established process of Job Planning for Consultant Doctors and Dentists will continue and will run in parallel any work outline Planning process for all other staff determined as Shared Employees.

9.4. The agreed Job Plan/shared work outline document between the Parties does not necessarily reflect any agreed recharge distribution which will be agreed prior to the commencement of the Shared Employee's appointment. Any changes to the Shared Employee's KCL and Trust responsibilities will be agreed by both parties with at least six months' notice; refer to 10.1 below. Normally it is expected that each party will be responsible for workload responsibilities, wellbeing and management during the allocated time in their organisation. Changes to responsibilities do not determine a change to the financial obligations of each organisation.

9.5. KCL and the Trust recognise that timely agreement and submission of the documentation is important to ensure that financial issues are dealt with in an accurate and expeditious manner.

10.1. KCL and the Trust recognise that service needs may require changes to a Shared Employee Job Plan or shared work outline document, outside the usual joint annual review and agreement process. In such instances, the Shared Employee will obtain appropriate approval for the proposed change, from both their KCL and Trust line managers and relevant heads of department or equivalent. This does not mean that there will be a change to any recharge agreements in place. Where changes are made to recharge agreements, an appropriate notice period will be applied, proportionate to the scale of the change. More substantial changes will require a longer notice period, and any notice period may be reduced where all relevant parties agree. Once approval is given, KCL and Trust line managers will communicate the change accordingly. KCL line managers will notify the KCL HR and finance team responsible for NHS billing and any relevant recharge agreement will be updated; accordingly, Trust line managers will notify the Trust's HR and finance team. The Trust will notify KCL NHS billing in writing of any changes, and subject to local agreements, further authorisation may be sought from Trust Central Finance.

10.2. KCL and the Trust acknowledge it is the duty of each Party to ensure that the changes they have requested are followed through to ensure the amendment has been processed through the substantive employer's payroll and recharge process as appropriate and agreed. It is the responsibility of each organisation to financially accrue for all known and expected charges, and to carry this forward through to each financial year until settlement, if necessary, within the 6-year statutory limitation for the collection of debt.

10.3. Any incorrect or delayed change that results in payroll overpayment will be credited back through the recharge process as and when the overpayment is collected from the Shared Employee.

10.4. Subject to the completion of the annual Job Plan or work outline document, any pay elements, as per the Shared Employee's contract, will be paid automatically and KCL and the Trust will be charged in accordance with the agreed funding distribution.

11.1. KCL holds responsibility for the design, infrastructure and management of its education programmes.

11.2. KCL and the Trust will periodically review agreements governing the delivery of KCL's clinical education programmes including the supply of each employer's substantively employed staff to deliver teaching and related duties.

11.3. All Trust staff may apply for an honorary academic appointment at KCL based on their academic activities in collaboration with KCL, including education, leadership and teaching/assessment and, where relevant, collaborative research, where this is in collaboration with KCL.

11.4. KCL and the Trust will ensure that all Shared Employees undertaking teaching and related duties receive the appropriate training and review.

12.1. KCL and the Trust will ensure that all Shared Employees holding an honorary appointment to undertake research activities on human subjects, their tissue or their data comply with the all the relevant legal, regulatory and policy frameworks, including, but not limited to:

12.1.1. the provisions for joint management of Shared Employees as detailed in this document

12.2. KCL and the Trust will achieve oversight of Shared Employees' conduct of such research activities by:

12.2.1. integrated approaches to applying KCL and Trust policies and procedures pertaining to research

12.2.2. consultation between the Parties about performance or disciplinary policies which pertain to a Shared Employees conduct of research.

13.1. The Trust holds responsibility for the clinical activities for all Shared Employees and will ensure they comply with relevant legal, regulatory and policy frameworks and statutory and mandatory training for clinical activities including but not limited to the provisions for joint management of Shared Employees as detailed in this document.

13.2. The Trust will maintain oversight of Shared Employee's conduct of clinical activities, and this will be in line with the organisational oversight of Trust staff.

14.1. KCL and the Trust acknowledge that as employers of the Shared Employee, each may wish, during the employment, to take action (whether in terms of dismissal or action falling short of dismissal) in respect of matters such as:

14.1.1. Misconduct or alleged misconduct

14.1.2. Performance of the duties of employment to a satisfactory standard

14.1.3. Assessing medical fitness to undertake all or part of the duties of employment (including consideration of the making of reasonable adjustments under the disability discrimination provisions of the Equality Act 2010 where the obligation to make such adjustments applies)

14.1.4. Attendance

14.1.5. Redundancy or other changes to employment arrangements linked to reorganisation.

14.2. KCL and the Trust acknowledge that each has the procedures, for determining such issues in respect of its relationship with the Shared Employee.

14.3. KCL and the Trust acknowledge that:

14.3.1. There may be occasions on which KCL has grounds for considering such action under its appropriate procedure(s), and the Trust does not (and vice versa).

14.3.2. There may be occasions on which KCL has grounds for considering such action under its appropriate procedure(s) and the Trust also has grounds for considering action against the same employee under its own appropriate procedure(s).

14.3.3. If KCL or the Trust wishes to terminate the substantive contract or honorary appointment, each employer must go through its own dismissal process albeit if the facts relied upon are the same it may be appropriate to rely on any investigation or paperwork collated by the other so as not to duplicate work.

14.3.4. If a substantive or an honorary contract is terminated (as the case may be) the other will need to consider whether, in the light of the circumstances of that termination, the remaining contract can be continued or ought to be terminated subject to an appropriate notice period. Each case will need to be considered on its own facts.

14.3.5. If a substantive or honorary appointment is terminated, the other party to this agreement must be informed and the appointment will then be reviewed.

15.1. KCL and the Trust agree to provide each other with adequate notice of any relevant proposed review and/or formal consultation process in relation to the organisational structure, in which their Shared Employees work. Each organisation's procedure will facilitate representation of the partner employer, as required. Where redundancy of any Shared Employee results, KCL and the Trust agree that each will consult the other in relation to the proposed date of termination before notice of termination of employment is served.

16.1. KCL and the Trust agree that all honorary duties undertaken will be facilitated within a Shared Employee's Job Plan or work outline document or similar. There will be no additional payment made to the Shared Employee for undertaking honorary activities by either KCL or the Trust.

17.1. KCL and the Trust agree to adhere to the terms of the HMRC Memorandum of Understanding 'Joint Staff of Universities and NHS Organisations', March 2007 in respect of the VAT treatment of recharges for shared staff.

17.2. Any future changes in VAT regulations affecting the VAT treatment of salary recharges will be reviewed and their impact assessed at the time, which may require amendments to this agreement. It is recognised by KCL and the Trust that each Party is obliged to comply with relevant VAT legislation and guidance in ensuring its own VAT affairs are in good order with HMRC.

18.1. KCL and the Trust shall ensure that:

18.1.1. KCL and the Trust will have local protocols in place to ensure joint management of leave, other absence and termination of appointment to facilitate management of the substantive contract and honorary appointment as per the Follett principles from the perspective of the Shared Employee and to mitigate against any operational impact such absence/termination of the contract may have on both KCL and the Trust.

18.1.2. their respective procedures provide that, while either KCL or the Trust's disciplinary procedure is being applied to a Shared Employee, that individual may not bring any complaint relating to those proceedings under the grievance procedure of the other employer (i.e., of the Trust or KCL, as the case may be).

18.1.3. rights of appeal will be confined solely to the procedure which is being implemented and Shared Employees may not appeal across procedures to the other party (i.e., KCL or the Trust, as the case may be).

18.1.4. their contracts of employment and procedures are as far as possible sufficient to allow the disclosure of information from one to the other (in particular of personal data or sensitive personal data) under applicable data protection laws. The Trust and KCL will also discuss and agree guidelines for the disclosure of data regarding third parties, in particular data relating to patients.

18.1.5. information shared between them for the purposes of operating this Protocol shall be treated as confidential and shall not be disclosed to any third party unless previously agreed in writing, save as required by law.

18.1.6. in the unlikely event of serious dispute between KCL and the Trust regarding the management of employee relations and/or associated matters concerning a Shared Employee or Employees, both Parties agree to participate in a process of mediation to aid resolution. Where resolution is not achievable and deadlock is determined, the Party with which the Shared Employee is legally determined to hold their substantive contract will decide the further actions to be taken. Both KCL and the Trust agree to abide by the substantive employer's decision. If concerns are raised with one Party about the other Party using that Party's "whistle blowing/confidential reporting line" or is of that nature even if reported in a different way, all relevant information should be confidentially passed to that other Party to deal with the matter as appropriate.

18.2. KCL and the Trust shall review this Protocol and its operation initially after one year and subsequently at three years or otherwise as agreed by all the parties. This Protocol may be amended by agreement between the parties following such review. Any such amendment shall be in writing.

18.3. This Protocol may be terminated by either party giving at least 3 months' notice in writing.

19.1. We the undersigned accept responsibility (on behalf of the Party we represent) to uphold the principles and working practices detailed within this Protocol and undertake to review this agreement on an annual basis, advising the KCL Chief People Officer of any amendments required, in a timely manner.

19.2. Additionally, we nominate our respective Chief People Officer to be the appropriate representative of our organisation for discussion, agreement and signatory for any further employee relation protocols underpinning the principles and agreed working practices detailed within this document.

Download a PDF version of the Memorandum of Understanding between King’s College London and King’s Health Partners NHS Trusts.