Staff update on national negotiations elating to pay, pay-related matters and the USS Pension Scheme.
Dear colleagues,
This is an update on the national negotiations relating to pay, pay-related matters and the USS Pension Scheme.
Pay
As a reminder on the New JNCHES 2023/2024 pay negotiations undertaken by UCEA and the trade unions at a national level, it was agreed that the Dispute Resolution Procedure has been exhausted. Both UCEA and the trade unions agreed that some progress at the lower end of the pay spine has been made in discussions facilitated by Acas, although an impasse, rather than agreement, was reached. A proportion of the pay uplift will be made from February 2023 (which will be paid in March 2023 payroll, backdated to 1 February) with the further uplift applying from 1 August 2023. View the previous communication that included more detail about the pay uplift.
Pay-related topics
Progress has been made on the pay-related items included as part of the New JNCHES 2023/2024 negotiations.
Following a meeting between UCEA and the trade unions on 14 March 2023, agreement has now been reached on terms of reference for four separate areas of work – the Higher Education Pay Spine, Workload, Employment Contracts and Pay Gaps. The basis of national discussions on these will be to develop principles to underpin local action in each area. They have been endorsed by the UCEA Board and the trade unions are consulting their respective constituencies about them. UCEA has stressed that the aim will be for discussions to commence as soon as possible, on the understanding that there will be no further industrial action for the duration of the discussions and with the aim of completing them by October 2023 or February 2024, depending on the area of work.
You can view the detailed Terms of Reference for the four areas of work with a summary pertaining to each provided below:
- Higher Education pay spine – a commitment to reviewing the pay spine to seek agreement of a new pay spine and principles for its implementation, paying particular attention to compression within the pay spine.
- Workload – seeking to provide guidance and good practice examples in relation to workload management and reduction of work-related stress for all groups of staff, to assist universities in developing local action plans.
- Employment contract types – develop, agree and promote principles pertaining to fixed term contracts and hourly paid contracts.
- Pay gaps – develop and agree principles and minimum standards to apply in action plans to address pay gaps based on good practice within and out with the Higher Education sector.
The University welcomes the clear progress made on these priority issues at a national level. We have remained committed to talks about the essential terms of reference for pay spine, workload, contract types and pay gaps negotiations. Locally, they already form part of the remits of established joint management and campus trade union working groups – the Workload Review Planning Group and the Reward Consultation and Negotiation Group. You can view more information about these at each link. The Groups will ensure that the outputs from discussions at a national level are considered in conjunction with the work that is already ongoing.
Further updates will be provided as the work of the Groups progresses.
USS Pension Scheme
National negotiations between Universities UK (UUK) and UCU have been constructive, with an interim joint statement issued highlighting the latest information provided by the USS Trustee, which indicates that the forthcoming 2023 valuation of the Scheme is likely to reveal a high probability of being able to improve benefits and reduce contribution levels. Should this be confirmed, this would allow for a return to a comparable level of future benefits (as existed before the April 2022 changes) as well as achieve a reduction in costs for staff and employers.
The joint statement stresses commitments on both sides to prioritise the improvement of benefits in this way, where this can be done in a demonstrably sustainable manner. The USS Trustee has agreed an accelerated valuation timetable, with a view to achieving positive benefit change from April 2024.
The joint statement also includes commitments to:
- Working together so that the 2023, and future, valuations are undertaken on a moderately prudent and evidence-based basis, taking account of the open and long-term nature of the Scheme. The work relating to this is ongoing, including collaborative work with the Valuation Technical Forum to explore and evaluate the assumptions USS will use for the 2023 valuation.
- Exploring a long-term solution for managing risk to avoid disputes arising at each valuation.
- Working in partnership on USS governance reform.
- Working in partnership on low-cost options.
Next steps
The University is supportive of UCEA’s position that no further industrial action takes place whilst discussions about the pay-related matters are taken forward.
In addition, we are hopeful that the progress reflected in the UUK/UCU joint statement will result in no further industrial action on the USS Pension Scheme.
Despite the progress of the discussions, UCU called on their members to take strike action this week (on 20, 21 and 22 March). Staff who have participated in strike action are reminded to return the strike notification form by Friday, 24 March 2023.
UCU are also balloting members about further strike action beyond March 2023. The ballot closes on 31 March 2023 and a further update on the outcome of this will be provided in due course. Whilst we acknowledge the right for staff to participate in industrial action, we are concerned that any ongoing action will adversely impact our students.
We welcome the progress made in the national negotiations and look forward to further constructive discussions locally with our campus trade unions.
Best wishes
Karl