Big pay win for PGRs on UKRI stipends
30 January 2025
UCU today celebrated the biggest real-term increase in the stipend for UKRI-funded postgraduate researchers (PGRs) in over two decades as a major win for its 'PGRs as staff' campaign, and called on other funders to confirm they will now match it.
The union also called on UKRI and universities to peg their stipends to the Real Living Wage after UKRI's report into stipend levels, which was also released today, found institutions may be willing to match annual stipend rises.
UCU also welcomed the improvements to terms and conditions, including increased medical leave and support for disabled students, and said that combined with the stipend increase, it was another step towards PGRs achieving de facto staff status.
Since UCU launched its PGRs as staff campaign in 2021, the union has won a series of victories. Most notably, members' dedicated campaign efforts during the cost-of-living crisis resulted in UKRI and other funders increasing their stipend rates by 13%. Members have also achieved key local wins around PGR teaching pay and conditions at institutions such as Newcastle, Sussex, Sheffield, and Cambridge. UCU has previously called upon universities to ensure that self-funded PGRs are afforded the same rights and support as those receiving funding.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'PGRs undertake crucial work across higher education, producing high-quality research and delivering outstanding teaching, but for far too long they have been denied basic benefits that their colleagues, employed as staff receive. This stipend increase will help ensure PGRs can make ends meet and all other funders must now confirm they will match it.
'Universities and funders now need to follow UKRI's report findings and peg stipend levels to the Real Living Wage so PGRs have the certainty that their finances will not fall behind inflation each year. The improvements to pay and conditions that UKRI has set out today are another step on the road to PGRs being treated as staff, not students, and the change cannot come soon enough.'
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