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Pay Agreement 2006-09

Letter from Jocelyn Prudence UCEA Chief Executive : PAY AGREEMENT FOR 2006-09

1. AGREED PAY INCREASES

Pay rates for non-clinical staff covered by HE national agreements will be increased as follows:

	August 2006	greater of 3% or £515
	February 2007	1%
	August 2007	3%
	May 2008	greater of 3% or £420
	October 2008	greater of 2½% or RPI (as at September 2008).

The attached sheet sets out the agreed uplifting of the single pay spine to give effect to these increases. For the small minority of HEIs where implementation of the Framework Agreement has been delayed beyond August 2006, union and UCEA officers will agree an equivalent uprating of the "old" pay scales for 2006-07.

Post-92 HEIs retaining separate London weightings are recommended to increase these on average by the same percentage uplifts.

If an HEI is in serious financial difficulty it may defer implementation of any of the above increases by up to 11 months in order to minimise job losses.

2. REVIEWS OF JNCHES AND OF HE FINANCIAL AND PAY DATA

Negotiations this year have been complicated because the JNCHES machinery has not worked wholly effectively, and by differences between the parties on the funds available for pay increases and on trends in the relative earnings of HE staff. The unions and employers therefore agree that JNCHES should jointly commission a review with an agreed independent chair, union and employer representatives working in partnership and the potential for other independent inputs, to facilitate and inform future negotiations.

This review will establish commonly accepted data on:

1. universities' and HE colleges' income and expenditure in 2006-07 and 2007-08, and forecasts for 2008-09 and later years (taking account of the Government's and devolved administrations' post-CSR plans for grant and tuition fees in those years, and the diversity in HEIs' finances);
2. the outcomes of the Framework Agreement, the earnings of HE staff following its implementation, and relativities to the earnings of other UK employees.

This review will draw on independent data sources and will report by Autumn 2008 to inform subsequent negotiations in the JNCHES machinery for academic year 2009-10 and later, although in the event that the review were to provide evidence of HEIs' ability further to improve the pay of staff for the 2008-09 year this would be included within these negotiations.

In addition, the unions and employers will put in train the review of negotiating arrangements agreed as part of the 2001 agreement establishing JNCHES. This review will proceed with the aim of agreeing necessary changes to the present arrangements by no later than July 2007.

3. IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT - EQUALITIES ISSUES

The seven HE trade unions and UCEA reconfirm their commitment to the principles set out in the 2004 Framework Agreement, as regards the design and implementation of new pay structures.

In particular, they affirm the importance of:

• adopting pay structures which facilitate the achievement of equal pay for work of equal value;
• applying common grading across all staff groups, including where pay structures are expressed locally in terms of more than one job family or career pathway;
• involving all locally recognised unions in the design and implementation of all aspects of new pay structures;
• adopting transparent arrangements for assimilation to and progression within new pay structures, that are equitable across all staff groups;
• applying these equal pay objectives both across different staff groups and in respect of part-time (including hourly-paid) staff and those on fixed-term contracts;
• harmonising contractual terms and conditions, by agreement within each HEI, across different staff groups in accordance with equal pay legislation.

Additionally - in order to ensure that the impact of new pay structures has met these equality objectives in practice as well as intent - the unions and UCEA strongly advise all HE institutions to: undertake an equal pay review, in accordance with the JNCHES guidance on such reviews, within 12 months of the introduction of their new pay structures and periodically thereafter; and to follow this with any modifications to the design or application of their pay structures which that review indicates to be necessary.

The JNCHES Equalities Forum will also be asked to consider the generality of these matters in more detail.

4. THE STANDARD WORKING WEEK

The PTAAS Sub-Committee of JNCHES notes:

• the need for the conditions of service for support staff (including hours of work and holidays) to reflect HE institutions' local circumstances,
• the unions' aim to achieve a maximum standard working week of 35 hours by 2009,
• that almost a third of HEIs have already adopted this, and
• that any reduction in the working week at other HEIs will be a matter for local negotiation.

Against that background the Sub-Committee jointly recommends HEIs with a longer working week to explore actively with their locally recognised unions a reduction in hours, including the potential for changes in working practices to help finance the cost, and the need to take proper account of equal pay imperatives.

5. RETURN TO NORMAL WORKING

All parties to this agreement have a shared interest in restoring good working relations and in progressing rapidly all delayed student assessment (particularly for final year students). To this end:

• UCU will suspend immediately all industrial action;

• UCEA will recommend to its subscribers that they should seek urgently to restore good industrial relations locally and that they should not impose unreasonable deadlines as part of the necessary rescheduling of assessment processes.

UCEA also recognises that UCU have made clear that the restoration of good industrial relations will only be achieved when, where relevant, issues relating to the withholding of pay are resolved. In the event of any difficulties which are not speedily resolved, ACAS services will be available at local level to assist the parties.

SINGLE PAY SPINE FOR ACADEMIC AND HE SUPPORT STAFF 2006-09
			2005-06	2006-07		2007-08		2008-09
	Spine Point		Salary from August 2005	Salary from August 2006	Salary from February 2007	Salary from August 2007	Salary from May 2008	Salary from October 2008 *
	1		11,060	11,575	11,691	12,041	12,461	12,773
	2		11,377	11,892	12,011	12,371	12,791	13,111
	3		11,703	12,218	12,340	12,710	13,130	13,459
	4		11,989	12,504	12,629	13,008	13,428	13,764
	5		12,335	12,850	12,979	13,368	13,788	14,133
	6		12,692	13,207	13,339	13,739	14,159	14,513
	7		13,009	13,524	13,659	14,069	14,491	14,853
	8		13,387	13,902	14,041	14,462	14,896	15,269
	9		13,778	14,293	14,436	14,869	15,315	15,698
	10		14,192	14,707	14,854	15,300	15,759	16,153
	11		14,618	15,133	15,284	15,743	16,215	16,621
	12		15,056	15,571	15,727	16,199	16,684	17,102
	13		15,508	16,023	16,183	16,669	17,169	17,598
	14		15,973	16,488	16,653	17,152	17,667	18,109
	15		16,452	16,967	17,137	17,651	18,180	18,635
	16		16,946	17,461	17,636	18,165	18,710	19,177
	17		17,454	17,978	18,157	18,702	19,263	19,745
	18		17,978	18,517	18,703	19,264	19,841	20,338
	19		18,517	19,073	19,263	19,841	20,436	20,947
	20		19,093	19,666	19,862	20,458	21,072	21,599
	21		19,645	20,234	20,437	21,050	21,681	22,223
	22		20,235	20,842	21,050	21,682	22,332	22,891
	23		20,842	21,467	21,682	22,332	23,002	23,577
	24		21,467	22,111	22,332	23,002	23,692	24,284
	25		22,111	22,774	23,002	23,692	24,403	25,013
	26		22,774	23,457	23,692	24,403	25,135	25,763
	27		23,457	24,161	24,402	25,134	25,888	26,536
	28		24,161	24,886	25,135	25,889	26,665	27,332
	29		24,886	25,633	25,889	26,666	27,466	28,152
	30		25,633	26,402	26,666	27,466	28,290	28,997
	31		26,401	27,193	27,465	28,289	29,138	29,866
	32		27,194	28,010	28,290	29,139	30,013	30,763
	33		28,009	28,849	29,138	30,012	30,912	31,685
	34		28,850	29,716	30,013	30,913	31,840	32,636
	35		29,715	30,606	30,913	31,840	32,795	33,615
	36		30,607	31,525	31,840	32,796	33,780	34,624
	37		31,525	32,471	32,795	33,779	34,793	35,663
	38		32,490	33,465	33,799	34,813	35,858	36,754
	39		33,445	34,448	34,793	35,837	36,912	37,835
	40		34,448	35,481	35,836	36,911	38,019	38,969
	41		35,482	36,546	36,912	38,019	39,160	40,139
	42		36,546	37,642	38,019	39,159	40,334	41,343
	43		37,643	38,772	39,160	40,335	41,545	42,583
	44		38,772	39,935	40,335	41,545	42,791	43,861
	45		39,935	41,133	41,544	42,791	44,074	45,176
	46		41,133	42,367	42,791	44,074	45,397	46,532
	47		42,367	43,638	44,074	45,397	46,759	47,927
	48		43,638	44,947	45,397	46,759	48,161	49,365
	49		44,947	46,295	46,758	48,161	49,606	50,846
	50		46,296	47,685	48,162	49,607	51,095	52,372
	51		47,685	49,116	49,607	51,095	52,628	53,943
	52		49,115	50,588	51,094	52,627	54,206	55,561
	53		50,589	52,107	52,628	54,207	55,833	57,229

* Increased by RPI if greater than 2.5%