Staff at UK universities offered 1.3% pay rise for coming academic year

Staff at UK universities have been offered a 1.3% pay rise for the 2019/20 academic year, which was proposed by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).

The pay rise was proposed in light of uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the Augar Review suggesting tuition fees should be cut to £6,500, which were described to be “unprecedented financial challenges including very large increases in employers’ pension contributions”.

Representing 145 institutions, the UCEA put forward the pay rise during the first of three negotiation meetings on 26 March, where plans led by the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) to boost staff that are paid less were considered.

Concerns that the 1.3% pay rise “may not apply to all points of the pay spine if lower-paid staff received greater uplifts” have been raised. The JNCHES also called for a “pay rise of inflation” and an additional 3%.

That would amount to 6.1% in total, or a minimum increase of £3,349.

The JNCHES further asked for £10 minimum wage for all staff, which they called a university’s “single most important asset”.

Continued erosion of the value of take-home pay in recent years is felt across all grades of staff in higher education covered by the national pay spine and needs, urgently, to be addressed

– JNCHES

Unions within the committee, including the University and College Union (UCU), Unite, and Unison, explained that the offer is “affordable” since staff costs have been dropping while investment into the higher education sector has been increasing.

Furthermore, they said: “Continued erosion of the value of take-home pay in recent years is felt across all grades of staff in higher education covered by the national pay spine and needs, urgently, to be addressed.”

This year’s 1.3% pay offer is lower than last year, which saw an opening offer of 1.7%. Worries that it may “revive calls for strike action” have surfaced, as the final 2018 pay rise offer of 2% triggered industrial action led by the UCU.