Join us
And find out why ATL is the fastest growing union in the education sector
Higher education - pay background
There have been significant changes and developments in higher education employment conditions across the UK in recent years.
A new pay framework was negotiated by UK higher education unions and the employers over a two year period and finalised in March 2004. This required the employers to implement a new HE pay spine and associated pay and grading arrangements by no later than 1 August 2006.
It required staff to be paid according to rates on a national pay spine and academic staff to be graded according to a national grading structure. Implementation is still ongoing in some institutions, and there are differences between the method of implementation in pre-92 and post-92 institions.
2006 pay negotiations
The 2006 pay negotiations agreed an overall total pay increase of 13.1 per cent by 2009. It also provided for reviews of:
Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff
HE employers and unions carry out pay and conditions negotiations via the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES).
Reforms to JNCHES are currently being carried out and there is a dispute between Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and the Universities and Colleges Union (UCU) over the detail of the process. For details see:
JNCHES reform on UCEA website
HE negotiating structures review on UCU website
Need further advice?
Your first point of contact is your ATL rep in your school or college. Your local ATL branch is also available to help with queries, or you can contact ATL's member advisors on tel: 020 7930 6441 or email us. Please have your membership number to hand when telephoning and include it with any correspondence - this will help us to answer your query more quickly.