Procedure: Paid outside work – the 52 day rule

Purpose

To establish the framework for ANU staff undertaking consultancies and professional activities as paid outside work.

Approval for outside work must be in place before commencing. The table below sets out the approval delegate and records required.

Type of outside work	Approval process	Delegate for approval	Records
Outside work with no connection to ANU employment	None required	N/A	None required
Outside work activities commonly related to academia	None required	N/A	None required
University Consultancy	Per Policy: External Project funding and agreements and Procedure: External project funding and agreements	Per Policy: External Project funding and agreements’ and ‘Procedure: External project funding and agreements’	Per Policy: External Project funding and agreements’ and ‘Procedure: External project funding and agreements’
Personal Consultancy	Discuss with supervisor/Director/Dean as appropriate Outside Work approval form signed by Delegate	Appropriate Delegate under Delegation 194	Outside Work approval form signed by Delegate and evidence of professional indemnity insurance (if not processed through ANUE).
Professional Practice	Discuss with supervisor/Director/Dean as appropriate Outside Work approval form signed by Delegate	Appropriate Delegate under Delegation 194	Outside Work approval form signed by Delegate and evidence of professional indemnity insurance

The Delegate must only approve Outside Work when they have considered, and be satisfied that:

The proposed Outside Work is appropriately classified per the Policy: Paid outside work - the 52 day rule;
The proposed Outside Work would not constitute or take priority over the staff member’s regular duties;
The proposed Outside Work does not have the potential to damage the reputation of the University;
All potential personal and institutional risks have been considered and documented;
All interests relating to the proposed Outside Work have been declared, and any conflicts of interest identified, documented and managed appropriately in line with University policy. Appropriate management may mean not approving the Outside Work request;
All relevant approvals for undertaking work for an overseas organisation have been given;
When applicable, the proposed Outside Work does not exceed the staff member’s 52 days (pro-rata) per annum allowance;
Appropriate records and approvals are in place; and
When required, appropriate professional indemnity insurance is in place.

Existing outside work agreements must be reviewed and renewed when there are significant changes made or every three years, whatever happens earlier.
Records of approved Outside Work and relevant attachments (conflict of interest management plan, evidence of professional liability insurance etc) must be kept and provided upon request.
Only University Consultancies should be receipted by the University. All other types of outside work must be receipted privately, and may then be donated to the University if desired. These include:

The recommended approach to carry out a Personal is through ANU Enterprise.
Having secured appropriate Delegate approval, contact the Outside Work team at ANU Enterprise who will:

Secure appropriate delegate approval;
Work with local College to manage the process and get appropriate agreements in place;
Undertake the work in line with the agreement in place.

To carry out a Personal Consultancy and Professional Practice outside of ANU Enterprise:

Ensure appropriate professional indemnity insurance is in place and evidence is provided to Delegate;
Ensure appropriate agreements are in place; and
Undertake the work in the agreed time.

Information	Printable version (PDF)
Title	Paid outside work – the 52 day rule
Document Type	Procedure
Document Number	ANUP_000512
Version
Purpose	To establish the framework for ANU staff undertaking consultancies and professional activities as paid outside work.
Audience	Staff-Academic, Staff-Academic-Research
Category	Administrative
Topic/ SubTopic	Research - Grants & Consultancies

Effective Date	28 Oct 2022
Next Review Date	28 Oct 2027

Responsible Officer:	Chief, Research and Innovation services
Approved By:	Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)
Contact Area	Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Innovation)
Authority:	Australian National University Act 1991 Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Rule 2014 The Australian National University Enterprise Agreement 2023-2026
Delegations	194
Information generated and received by ANU staff in the course of conducting business on behalf of ANU is a record and should be captured by an authorised recordkeeping system. To learn more about University records and recordkeeping practice at ANU, see ANU recordkeeping and Policy: Records and archives management.