Professional services staff are pushing universities to grant them the same annual leave entitlements as academic colleagues, with several institutions offering 10 fewer days off annually.
Unison, the trade union that represents 50,000 non-academic staff at UK universities, has called for parity in working conditions across the sector after one institution, the University of Bedfordshire, granted professional services staff five extra days‘ annual leave, bringing their total package to 30 days from September.
But this still lags behind academic staff at the university, who receive 35. Professional services staff also work a 37-hour week, compared with the 35 contracted hours for professors and lecturers.
Unison is continuing its campaign to tackle the “unfair differences” in annual leave, an issue it says is replicated across other universities.
