HE pay and salaries

UCU negotiates nationally with the employers' body, the Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (UCEA) over pay and conditions for academic and research staff, and, in pre-1992 institutions, for academic-related staff. These negotiations take place within the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES).

2010 pay round

Latest news

UCU is holding a special HE sector conference on 11 February to discuss the 2010 pay claim: HE sector conference: pay and job security

2009 pay and national bargaining

Negotiations reluctantly concluded by the unions

Whilst condemning the refusal of the employers to negotiate on arrangements for the avoidance of redundancies and the unacceptable offer of a 0.5% pay rise the UCU's Higher Education Committee have however noted that the 2009 national negotiating round has concluded. GMB, Unite and Unison have all now reluctantly accepted the employers' final offer and EIS have noted it.

UCEA have now issued the final offer as the New JNCHES pay agreement 2009/2010 although they have recognised that UCU (and EIS) have not formally accepted the offer.

UCEA are therefore advising their members to implement the 0.5% pay increase with effect from August 2009. They have also advised that they will be taking steps, with the trade unions, to set in place the three working groups referred to in the document.

No further action is required by branches/LAs.

MORE: National HE negotiations 2009

2006-09 pay agreement

UCU members in higher education accepted a pay offer from the employers for 2006-09. The deal saw increased salaries for academic and related staff of 10.37% over the first two years. The third year of the pay deal provided a minimum 2.5% increase, or the official RPI figure for September 2008, whichever was larger. The official figure for RPI was announced as 5.0%.

Key background

Single pay spine

Prior to 2004 there were a number of different pay grading structures within UK HE. In 2004 UCU members - then as AUT and NATFHE - accepted a significant new agreement - 'The Framework Agreement for the modernisation of pay structures'. This led to higher education salary arrangements undergoing major change and individual universities have been required to implement new pay and grading arrangements mapped to a national single pay spine, effective from no later than 1 August 2006.

• Deal reached in university pay talks

The national single pay spine, on which local grading arrangements will now be based, is negotiated by the academic sub-committee of JNCHES. UCU, as the largest UK union for academic and academic-related staff, is the majority union on this sub-committee.

Negotiating structures review

Arrangements for the negotiating structure have recently been revised. See HE negotiating structures review 2008 for further information.

Pay framework implementation

Many positive local agreements have now been successfully concluded by local negotiators working alongside our head office HE team and regional offices. However, a few have yet to be agreed. In exceptional circumstances, where universities are attempting to bypass the national agreement, full resources are being channelled to provide support for our members on the ground.

Further detailed information on the pay framework is available here

UCU and HE pay

Negotiating nationally on your behalf

The over-arching Joint National Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) deals with matters common to the academic sub-committee and another, non-academic, group. 

As well as representing you in salary negotiations, we also represent members' pensions interests through member trustees on the Universities Superannuation Scheme and Teachers' Pension Scheme. See the pensions section for more on our pensions work.

Keeping you informed

UCU works hard to make sure members are kept fully informed about developments in HE pay and grading arrangements. In this website section you will find the latest information on all of our work under JNCHES, including grading arrangements and work towards equal pay.

We also run email lists, and send out briefings and letters to members to communicate directly any important information members need to know. Contact head of campaigns Justine Stephens for further information.

Collective strength

One of the benefits of membership of UCU is the collective strength it gives us in pay, as well as other negotiations. This is even more important now that additional negotiating work within higher education has been devolved down to branches and local associations.

If you are not a UCU member, make sure you join us today and further strengthen our negotiating position.