As a Real Living Wage (RLW) employer, the University introduced the Loughborough Real Living Wage Supplement in April 2025. This was designed to address pay compression at the lower end of the salary scale and to provide differentiated pay for colleagues on spine points 5 to 18. The supplement reflects our commitment to supporting staff with cost-of-living pressures and sits outside nationally agreed pay arrangements.
We are committed to reviewing the supplement annually when the national RLW rate is announced each autumn. In the meantime, because the total base pay for those in receipt of the supplement currently exceeds the value of the national pay points, there will be no change to your total base pay from 1 August. All staff currently in receipt of the supplement will receive an email confirming the new breakdown of their pay – these will be issued to staff by the end of September.
Finally, UCEA's pay offer also includes the removal of spine points 5 and 6 by July 2026. However, to avoid further compression at the lower end of the pay spine, we need to review how best this can be implemented. This review will take place when the new national RLW rate is announced in the autumn. At that time, we’ll carry out pay modelling and will work with our trade union colleagues to ensure any changes are fair and sustainable.