University staff demand fair pay & an end to sector wide cuts

The demands form the joint higher education unions' 2026/27 claim to employer body the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which includes:

• An increase on all pay points of at least RPI + 3% or £3,000, whichever is the greater, to be paid in full in August 2026.
• An increase to the minimum hourly rate of pay to £15/hour and for all institutions to become Living Wage Foundation employer.
• A review of the pay spine.
• UCEA to work with the unions to develop meaningful and inclusive career pathways for professional services staff.
• UCEA to work with the joint trade unions to avoid job losses through ensuring employers adhere to agreed policies and address the "hidden redundancy" crisis impacting casualised staff through working to implement policy on the non-renewal of fixed-term contracts.

The full claim is available here.

University staff have seen a real terms pay cut of 30% since 2011 and vice-chancellors have tried to force through over 15,000 job cuts since the start of the previous academic year (September 2024).

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'University staff have suffered real term pay cuts, year after year, for more than a decade.

'On top of that, far too many vice-chancellors have engaged in academic vandalism, cutting thousands of jobs and hundreds of courses; hollowing out higher education into a shell of what it should be.

'As the employer body, UCEA now needs to work with us to stabilise the sector through protecting jobs and raising pay. A failure to do so risks driving the sector to a point of no return.'