Discussions between UCEA and the national unions have been ongoing since December and on 17 February 2023 they issued a joint statement which confirmed that an impasse, rather than an agreement, has been reached.
The pay award will see an increase of at least 5% for all staff, with staff on the lowest spinal points receiving up to 8% broken down as follows:
|
Spinal points |
Overall increase |
|
3 – 5 |
8% |
|
6 - 14 |
7% |
|
15 - 25 |
6% |
|
26+ |
5% |
The uplift will come in two stages. The first will be paid from your March salary. All staff will receive an increase of £1,000 per year or 2%, whichever is greater, backdated to 1 February 2023. The rest of the overall increase will be paid from August.
This is different to previous years in which a single uplift in August is awarded and the early implementation is designed to help staff manage the cost-of-living challenges currently being experienced. The pay spine has been updated and can be cross referenced with your current grade and can be viewed online.
UCEA has now advised universities to implement the pay award so that staff can benefit from it. The February 2023 pay award will be paid with your March salary and will contain the uplift backdated to 1 February.
UCEA and the trade unions are continuing with time-limited negotiations on a range of other topics. This includes zero hours contracts, a revised/refreshed pay spine to address the pay compression that has developed in recent years, and on contract types, workload and pay gaps.