Raj Jethwa, UCEA’s Chief Executive said:
“Following yesterday's constructive Acas-facilitated talks between UCEA and trade unions, further progress has been made towards the review of the national HE pay spine. While we look forward to progress in Phase two of the talks - which include important non pay issues - through Acas next week, HE institutions have been advised of the pay uplift to be implemented in March. This follows the conclusion of Phase one of the talks. At the unions’ request, UCEA agreed that no uplift would be implemented until the beginning of March. We have respected this request but UCEA and the trade unions have also agreed that an impasse had been reached in respect of the pay uplift. While we very much regret this, the intention in bringing forward the 2023-24 pay round was to provide support at this time to staff facing cost of living pressures.
“This pay uplift of between 8 percent and 5 percent will include a restructured uplift from 1 February 2023, addressing staff on the lowest pay points*. The overall quantum for the pay uplift for 2023-24 was already at the limit of the sector’s affordability but our HE institutions did permit us to accelerate this process and push the pay packet to the sector’s limits, and that is what has remained in place. Clearly the difficult inflationary costs are a joint concern for employees and employers alike. We thank our member HEIs for their patience and realise the challenges they now face to get some** of this uplift in March pay packets, backdated to February. It would have been unfair to delay the early pay uplift to all staff for any longer."
