Leaving employment

When a member of staff leaves the College, it is essential that information reaches all those who need to know as quickly as possible. Failure to do so has implications for the leaver and their department, division, school or institute. 

A Leavers form should be completed as applicable for all staff members who are leaving the College, regardless of the circumstances.

The Leavers form is designed to be completed by the member of staff leaving the College but can, in exceptional circumstances, be submitted on their behalf by the Departmental Operating Manager or an appropriately authorised colleague.

For all staff leaving the College due to retirement (for any reason), resignation or contract expiry the Leavers form‌ should be submitted online via the HR Portal.

There are occasionally situations which fall outside of the standard Leavers scenario such as redundancy (not including expiries of fixed-term contracts), dismissal or death in service. At present these will continue to be processed ‘offline’ via consultation with HR Strategic Support using the original Excel leavers' form [.xlsx] ‌ as we develop an appropriate longer-term solution for these cases.

In the event of a member of staff's death, please refer to the Death protocol - staff [pdf]in the first instance as some of the actions below may not apply.

Where dismissal is a possible outcome of a formal HR procedure it is important to consider both how the message will be communicated to the member of staff and how their exit from the College should be managed.

Imperial values its staff and recognises the importance of understanding why employees leave the College, in addition to being interested in your thoughts about your time working here. If you are leaving employment at the College, it would be very much appreciated if you would take the time to complete the confidential Leavers’ Questionnaire. The data will be collated centrally within HR to identify any trends when reviewing the different experiences of working at the College, in addition to identifying areas of improvement. If you would like to have a face to face exit interview with HR instead, you can request this by sending an email to hrstaffhub@imperial.ac.uk. The data collated will be treated in compliance with GDPR regulations and the College retention schedule.

• Leavers' process flowchart‌
• Leavers' form
• Ensure that you attach a copy of your letter of resignation before submitting your form
• Leaver's online questionnaire

Procedure

• Retirement Options

Forms

• ‌‌Leavers form‌
• Leaver's online questionnaire

Further information

• Approaching retirement  (link to Pensions information for staff considering retirement)
• Preparing to take your pension course - for staff retiring within the next 12 months
  
• Ill health retirement flowchart‌

• For information regarding honorary associations with the College (including Emeritus Professor/Reader) please see the Honorary and Visiting Associations webpage or contact your department.

When a Leavers form is submitted via the HR Portal it is automatically sent for approval by the relevant Department Approver before it is processed by HR. Check the Department Approvers - Leavers list to see who the Department Approver is for your area.

Instructions for Department Approvers

If you receive any requests for an employment reference, it is important to provide one that is fair, accurate and compliant with the law. Please see the manager's guidance to references for more information and advice on how to do this. 

• Death protocol - staff [pdf]] (PDF)

• TUPE frequently asked questions

Change management policy [pdf]