Universities need to pay staff properly, and staff deserve decent terms and conditions.
It’s not possible to be more unequivocal than that. It’s not a debate – there’s no valid position that says paying staff badly and treating them poorly is good for business or good for the UK. There’s no argument to be had on this principle.
There is often argument around what is affordable – and we do see a great deal of cherry-picked data used to argue for a particular position. With fresh claims made in recent days it feels like the right time to set up some parameters and definitions to make for a more informed debate.
