A UCEA spokesperson said:
“By this month around 325,000 colleagues in UK HE institutions will receive pay increases of between 3.65% and 1.8%, resulting from the negotiations conducted between March and April this year. For more than half of the academic and professional services staff covered their pay increases will be higher still, averaging at around 4.8%, as a result of pay progression increases as well. UCEA has advised the 147 HE institutions participating in the round to implement the uplifts due from 1 August, as employers do not consider it reasonable to make colleagues wait many months more to receive their increases.
“It is of course disappointing that we have the unions saying that they wish to ballot their members for what would be damaging industrial action. The Dispute Resolution procedure meetings over the summer provided further opportunities for open discussion between the trade unions and UCEA but the trade unions’ claims for significantly higher pay increases continued, confirming that they could not come towards any realistic negotiation zone for the employers.
“There is no intention to be provocative in enabling colleagues to receive the pay increases they are due. There are also practical and technical issues in not wishing to disadvantage colleagues, for example those in receipt of universal credit or repaying student loans, by an award being implemented late with significant arrears. We also know that the outcome is the result of an exhaustive attempt to reach a negotiated settlement by UCEA without wishing to jeopardise jobs in our HE institutions and against an extraordinarily challenging context for all HE institutions.”
ENDS
For further information please contact: Andy Fryer, Communications Manager (a.fryer@ucea.ac.uk) or Marc Whittaker, Communications and Events Manager (m.whittaker@ucea.ac.uk) on 020 7383 2444.
“By this month around 325,000 colleagues in UK HE institutions will receive pay increases of between 3.65% and 1.8%, resulting from the negotiations conducted between March and April this year. For more than half of the academic and professional services staff covered their pay increases will be higher still, averaging at around 4.8%, as a result of pay progression increases as well. UCEA has advised the 147 HE institutions participating in the round to implement the uplifts due from 1 August, as employers do not consider it reasonable to make colleagues wait many months more to receive their increases.
“It is of course disappointing that we have the unions saying that they wish to ballot their members for what would be damaging industrial action. The Dispute Resolution procedure meetings over the summer provided further opportunities for open discussion between the trade unions and UCEA but the trade unions’ claims for significantly higher pay increases continued, confirming that they could not come towards any realistic negotiation zone for the employers.
“There is no intention to be provocative in enabling colleagues to receive the pay increases they are due. There are also practical and technical issues in not wishing to disadvantage colleagues, for example those in receipt of universal credit or repaying student loans, by an award being implemented late with significant arrears. We also know that the outcome is the result of an exhaustive attempt to reach a negotiated settlement by UCEA without wishing to jeopardise jobs in our HE institutions and against an extraordinarily challenging context for all HE institutions.”
ENDS
For further information please contact: Andy Fryer, Communications Manager (a.fryer@ucea.ac.uk) or Marc Whittaker, Communications and Events Manager (m.whittaker@ucea.ac.uk) on 020 7383 2444.
