Nearly a third of Scottish universities don't pay living wage, says report

The findings, from the National Union of Students and UNISON, come just a week after thousands of university staff took a day's strike action in a row over pay.

UCU, whose members took strike action on Thursday 31 October, said the report was a timely reminder of the discrepancies between the pay of those at the top and the rest of staff in universities.

The bitter pay dispute with university employers centres around the trade unions' refusal to accept a 1% pay offer, which they say contributes to a real-terms pay cut of 13% since 2008.

UCU's Scotland Official, Mary Senior, said: 'Staff in our universities have suffered real-terms pay cuts year after year, while those at the top have continued to enjoy rises. This report exposes the unfairness of pay rises for university principals when some staff are not even paid the living wage.

'We hope the employers' representatives will take note of this report and understand the anger staff feel at the pay injustices in higher education. Nobody wants to see further disruption in our universities and we hope the employers will come back to the table to deal with the problem.'

• The Living Wage in the UK Higher Education Sector - Executive Summary, NUS & Unsion. Nov 13 [412kb]