The new payment system at Edinburgh University has been labelled not fit for purpose after workers and students had to pay out of their own pocket to cover expenses
The finance system at the centre of the chaos – called People and Money – has resulted in the university being blacklisted by some suppliers because of late payments, with a union representative claiming most couriers covering the capital have point-blank refused to make deliveries to its campus because of non-payment.
Another added: “This leaves us with the only option of buying products from our own money and trying to get this expensed afterwards, leaving us with a hole in our own finances which, at a time when many postgraduate researchers are not being paid their stipends is utterly unacceptable.” He said: “It’s this gargantuan project, affecting the whole university and we’ve looked at the sort of people they’re trying to hire at the moment to try and mop up the mess and they’re paying salaries well below the market rates.
“Then because of non-payment of bills, there was so much chaos going on, the university ended up being blacklisted by all sorts of suppliers.He added: “It has caused major financial hardship to people.