HE consultation 2024: FAQs

Key documents

Please read the following documents carefully: 

• Final offer from Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) on the 2024/25 New JNCHES pay round
• UCEA final offer 2024/25 pay modelling
• UCU higher education officers' report on the 2024/25 offer
• UCU higher education negotiators' report on the 2024/25 offer.

FAQ on the practicalities of the formal consultation

Which sector is this consultation for?

This is a higher education pay and working conditions formal consultation. 

UCU members working in further education, prison education, or adult and continuing education are involved in separate negotiations and campaigns.

How will the consultation be conducted?

The higher education pay and working conditions formal consultation will be conducted via an online ballot. The online ballot is administered by the independent election scrutineer Civica Election Services, on behalf of UCU. Eligible UCU members will receive the online ballot via email.

What is the consultation timetable?

• Tuesday 12 November 2024: the formal consultation opens and Civica Election Services sends the online ballot by email to eligible UCU members
• Friday 15 November 2024 (09:00): replacement e-ballot request form opens
• Wednesday 27 November 2024 (23:59): replacement e-ballot request form closes
• Tuesday 3 December 2024 (17:00): formal consultation closes.

Which branches or institutions are included in the consultation?

You can check the list of UCU branches/institutions that are included in the consultation.

The list corresponds to UCU branches/institutions that are included in the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) for the 2024/25 UK-wide higher education negotiations on pay and working conditions.

In total, 138 higher education institutions (or 148 UCU branches) across the United Kingdom are included.

Why isn't my branch or institution included in the consultation?

Not all higher education institutions in the UK are involved in the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) for the 2024/25 UK-wide higher education negotiations. UCU and those non-JNCHES institutions negotiate locally on pay and working conditions. Some examples include: Birmingham City University, Cranfield University, Imperial College London, Leeds Art University, Nottingham Trent University, Queens' University Belfast, Staffordshire University.

Why is this consultation happening and who made the decisions regarding this?

UCU is a member-led union where decisions are made by UCU members themselves. The democratic mechanisms of the union include the annual Congress (UCU's supreme policy-making body), the further and higher education sector conferences (FESC and HESC), and the elected representatives in the national executive committee (NEC) which is also subdivided into the further education committee (FEC) and higher education committee (HEC).

UCU has been providing regular updates on the 2024/25 higher education pay and working conditions negotiations on this page.

In summary, the 2024/25 negotiations concluded in September 2024. UCU and the other campus trade unions (Unite, UNISON, EIS and GMB) received the full and final offer from the employers' association Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). A UCU branch delegate meeting (BDM) took place on Tuesday 24 September 2024, followed by a meeting of UCU's higher education committee (HEC) on Friday 27 September 2024.

At the 27 September 2024 meeting, the elected representatives of HEC considered UCEA's final offer and voted to reject the pay element of the offer and to accept the terms of reference relating to the pay spine review, workload, casualisation, and equality pay gaps. HEC also voted to launch a formal consultation on the offer.

The materials--including the questions of the consultation and its accompanying documents--were authorised by the elected HE officers (typically the UCU president, president-elect in higher education, and the HEC vice-chairs).

Where is the consultation email being sent?

The consultation has been sent by Civica Election Services to your declared 'preferred email address', where you would normally receive UCU's other national communications, for example UCU's 'Friday Email'.

I have received the consultation email but my voting link does not seem to function. What should I do?

If you have received the consultation email from Civica Election Services and the voting link does not seem to function correctly, please contact Civica Election Services via Support-CESvotes@civica.co.uk.

What questions will appear in the consultation?

The consultation will have three questions:

1. Do you accept or reject the pay element of UCEA's final offer? [Accept/Reject]
2. Do you accept or reject the terms of reference on the pay related elements (contract types, pay spine review, workload, and equality pay gaps) as set out in UCEA's final offer? [Accept/Reject]
3. Are you willing to participate in industrial action in pursuit of an improved offer? [Yes/No]

The elected representatives of UCU's higher education committee (HEC) recommend that UCU members reject the pay element of UCEA's final offer, and accept the terms of reference on the pay related elements as set out in UCEA's final offer.

Would UCU know if I have voted or which way I have voted?

This formal consultation is confidential and UCU does not know if an individual member has voted or which way that a member has voted.

As part of a UCU's 'get the vote out' (GTVO) activities, UCU may ask you—via email for instance—whether you have voted, so that the union can target their campaigning with precision. It is always an enormous help to your union if you volunteer this information when asked (on whether you have voted, not how you have voted), so that there will be no need for UCU to remind you again to vote.

Can I change my vote after I have submitted it?

Like in almost all democratic exercises, once your ballot has been cast (i.e. you have clicked on the 'submit' button in your electronic consultation), it will not be possible for you or anyone to change your vote. 

I have not received my consultation email. What should I do?

If you do not receive your consultation email from Civica Election Services by Friday 15 November 2024, you can use the replacement e-ballot request form. This form closes on Wednesday 27 November 2024 (23:59). To use the replacement e-ballot request form, you need to use your unique UCU membership number.

Before you use the form to request a replacement e-ballot, please make sure that:

• you have checked the spam/junk folder of your email account (preferably log in directly to your email rather than on an account added to your mobile)
• you have checked your personal as well as work email accounts (the e-ballot has been sent by Civica Election Services to your declared 'preferred email address' where you would normally receive, for instance, UCU's 'Friday Email')
• you work in the higher education sector--further education, prison education and adult and continuing education members have separate negotiations and campaigns
• you work at a university or institution that is part of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) for the 2024-25 UK-wide negotiations on pay and working conditions
• you are a full UCU member (retired or student members, postgraduate researchers members, attached/unemployed members, as well as members whose membership has lapsed, are not e-balloted)
• you are ballot eligible (members who are on parental leave, long-term absence, or with a workplace under a different employer to your main branch, or which is outside of the United Kingdom, are not eligible)
• your workplace/employer information is correct (you can check your details by logging into MyUCU).

I do not know or have forgotten my UCU membership number. How do I find out what it is?

If you do not know your UCU membership number, you can send a blank email to mynumber@mercury.ucu.org.uk using the email address we hold for you (usually where you receive the Friday campaigns email and other union communications), and your number will be emailed back. You could also try logging into MyUCU to grab your membership number. If everything fails, you can email UCU's membership department.

Who is eligible to vote?

The formal consultation by default includes:

• UCU full members (standard membership or standard free membership)
• joint union members.

The formal consultation by default excludes:

• student members
• postgraduate researcher members
• attached/unemployed members
• fully retired members
• members whose membership lapsed (please note that standard free membership expires after a period of time—members are warned well in advance if this is happening—and those standard free members can upgrade their membership via MyUCU)
• members whose workplace is outside of the United Kingdom
• members who have cancelled their membership or resigned from the union
• members with a 'ballot exclusion' in place (e.g. parental leave, long-term absence).

Remember that you can check your membership category by logging into MyUCU.

I am about to start parental leave or about to retire; am I eligible to vote in this consultation?

When you receive your consultation email, if at that point you have not yet started parental leave or are not yet fully retired, you should vote in this consultation as normal.

What if I am employed at multiple institutions (and therefore am at multiple UCU branches)?

Each eligible member will receive one consultative ballot i.e. one vote with respect to their primary higher education institution, regardless of how many other institutions they work at. You can check your primary institution of employment via MyUCU.

Is the consultation 'disaggregated' or 'aggregated'?

The consultation takes all eligible UCU members as one bloc and they are not divided into UCU branches, so in that sense it is 'aggregated'. 

The anti-trade union 50% turnout threshold applies only to statutory industrial action (postal) ballots, according to the Trade Union Act 2016. The turnout threshold does not apply to formal consultations like this one.

Why is it that we can vote electronically for this consultation but cannot vote electronically/online for industrial action ballots?

The Trade Union Act 2016 mandates that a statutory ballot for industrial action must be conducted by post. It is therefore not possible, as of November 2024, to participate in any UK industrial action ballot electronically/online. 

However, this legal requirement does not apply to formal consultations about an employer's offer and therefore this formal consultation can be conducted electronically/online. This formal consultation is administered/supervised by Civica Election Services, the independent election scrutineer.

What happens after this consultation?

Once the consultation closes and the results are announced, the democratic bodies of the union--in this instance the higher education committee (HEC)--will meet in December 2024 and determine the next steps. In other words, it is up to UCU members and their elected representatives to decide what the next steps will be.

What if I have a question about the consultation that is not covered here?

The FAQs will be continually updated by UCU staff. If you have a pressing question about the consultation that is not covered here, please contact the UCU campaigns team and we will either reply to you directly or provide a response on this page.

Please also note that it is generally not possible for a FAQ document to cover the often unique circumstances of every member. For casework support or for advice tailored to your precise circumstances, please contact your branch or the relevant regional office. For questions pertaining to your membership record and personal data, please contact the membership department.