Update on national pay negotiations
James Saville, Director of Human Resources, provides an update on national pay negotiations.
Dear colleague,
Each year the University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) negotiates a national pay increase on behalf of the University and other Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This negotiation is carried out through the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) which is made up of UCEA and the five Higher Education trade unions (EIS, GMB, UCU, UNISON and Unite). These pay negotiations determine the basic, annual increase on the values of the 51 pay spine points.
On 30 April UCEA made a final offer of 1.8% on all spine points, with additional increases on each point up to point 16. This offer ensures all staff receive an increase in base pay in line with the current official measure of inflation, with lower paid staff (in University Grades UE01 to UE04) receiving significantly higher increases of up to 3.65%. These will be supplemented by incremental progression increases which 63% of University staff in Grades UE01 to UE09 will receive.
The HE unions are currently considering this final offer, and UCEA’s response to other non-pay elements of their claim, such as guaranteed hours and fixed-term contracts, workload allocation models and support around wellbeing. I will write again when the outcome of the union deliberations are known, which may not be until early July.
Meanwhile, you can find out more about the proposed scale point increases on our website: https://edin.ac/2Qg4sul
Should you have any immediate queries please email uhrs@ed.ac.uk.
Regards,
James Saville Director of Human Resources