New pay and reward strategy: Frequently Asked Questions

The pay scale changes apply to those on the UCL non-clinical salary structures. The adjustments will also be applied to cleaning, catering, portering and security colleagues working for partner organisations.

Our clinical scale is controlled nationally and linked to NHS pay progression. It is therefore outside our control and not affected by these changes. However, many of our clinical staff receive the UCL rate of London allowance and they will also benefit from the changes announced to that rate (see below).

Staff in different grades and spine points will benefit differently from the changes but all non-clinical staff will be positively affected by the changes.

In terms of individual actions:

• Over 9,000 staff will see their London allowance rise by £800 to £5,000 via rises in August and December 2023.
• 3,000 staff who have been at the top of scale since at least 1 August 2022 will receive an increment in December 2023.
• Over 6,000 staff will be on a higher increment than they would have reached in the existing structure by August 2026.

UCL normally applies the percentage rate from the national pay outcome to our rate of London allowance and in some years, UCL has applied further increases beyond this; in 2021 £250 and in 2022 £435 was added in addition to the national pay award percentage. 

In 2022 we also introduced a fringe allowance of 50% of the full London allowance, for staff working in the counties surrounding London.

This year UCL took the initiative to apply the full headline rate of 5% (£200) from the 2023-24 national pay outcome to the London allowance in February 2023, some 6 months earlier than August 2023, rather than splitting the increase between February 2023 and August 2023 as per the national increase on base pay. This means UCL’s current London allowance is £4,200 (until 31 July 2023). With effect from 1 August 2023 the London allowance will increase by a further £300 to a new rate of £4,500. This new rate will mean London allowance will have increased over £1,000 since July 2022 (an uplift of 30%).

Staff currently receiving London allowance at the £4,200 level (including staff on Non-Consultant Clinical Academic Pay Scale, and Clinical staff on this level of London allowance) will receive the newly announced London allowance of £4,500. In addition, those staff who are on the Institute of Education (IOE), MRC (Inner London Allowance) and School of Pharmacy (SOP) pay scales whose rates are at or lower than the UCL rate, will also move up to the new levels announced.

The first increase will take place on 1 August 2023, all staff who currently receive £4,200 or £2,100 as fringe allowance and Institute of Education (IOE), MRC and School of Pharmacy (SOP) staff will start receiving £4,500 with effect from 1 August 2023.

Then on 1 December 2023, employees on UCL non-clinical salary structures from Grades 1 to Grade 7, and pay points equivalent to these in Non-Consultant Clinical Academic Pay Scale, Institute of Education (IOE), MRC, School of Pharmacy (SOP), StR and Junior doctors pay scales will receive £5,000 as their London allowance.

The main driver to differentiate the London allowance rate was to deliver larger immediate rises to those at lower to mid pay points, where effects of cost of living would have been felt the most.  Increasing London allowance for staff in Grades 1-7 will also help narrow our gender, ethnicity and disability pay gaps. The second priority was then to focus on making larger structural rises in the longer term to higher grades to go towards the external benchmarks and to have a balance between the two positions.

As staff move from Grade 7 to Grade 8 their London allowance will reduce from £5,000 to £4,500. However, as a result of lifting up the entry point for Grade 8 by two spinal points by April 2025, staff will receive a minimum of two increments when moving from Grade 7 to Grade 8. This contrasts with the current position where it is a minimum of one point. This additional minimum increase built in more than offsets the reduction in London allowance from £5,000 to £4,500 as staff progress. With the changes introduced in Grade 8, you will also have a greater ability to progress to a much higher salary in the longer term.

If you were at the top of the existing automatic grade zone (blue zones) on or before 1 August 2022, you will move up to the new top point in the blue zone from 1 December 2023.

Each year the majority of staff in Grades 1-9 move up a spine point. So many of you will move up a spinal point from 1 August 2023. However, there is a significant group of staff (circa 3,000) who have been at the top blue point on or before 1 August 2022 and therefore will not move up a spine point from 1 August 2023. This is because they are already at the top point of the grade with no further incremental progression available. From 1 December 2023 we will add a new top blue point to each grade which staff can progress to. That will mean they (alongside nearly all other staff) will also increment in 2023. We have added these additional points to give staff further potential for progression and make our salaries more competitive. In time all staff who are below the top point of their grade will also progress through to the new highest point.

No. But managers are encouraged to consider performance and have the opportunity to nominate for accelerated increments based on existing guidance requirements. Managers may wish to prioritise reward for high performing staff who are on contribution points already in the upcoming year (in line with any local guidelines and timescales).

Yes, irrespective of whether in probation or not.

UCL benchmarks its Academic salaries against Russell Group Universities and its Professional Services staff salaries against general industry (excluding Financial Services) in London and the Southeast. Broadly speaking this showed we are in line with benchmarks at Grades 1-7 but markedly lower at Grade 8 and Grade 9.

We have benchmarked salaries within our grades against applicable professional services and academic roles. Grades 8 and 9 are where UCL salaries are below our external benchmarks the most. This is true for academic and professional services staff. Therefore, additional structural changes were needed on these grades to compete better with our external competitors. This is balanced by providing lower grades with a higher London allowance at £5,000.

All staff who have had an appraisal will advance to these points on default, unless they are judged to be underperforming and within the capability or disciplinary process. This will be a very small minority of staff. Therefore, we’d expect the significant majority of staff to progress to these points.

Progression Points should not be confused with Contribution Points, which are based on exceptional performance, and not accessed by default. There is a specific procedure to follow in order for staff to be moved to these Contribution Points.

We feel that there is an argument to raise Research Fellow salaries further within Grade 7. Therefore, the minimum Research Fellow salary will be point 32 of Grade 7 (not point 30) from August 2026.

Grade 6 Research Assistants will benefit from the new additional point at the top of Grade 6, and this follows their maximum increment being increased already last year. Research Fellows will also benefit from the addition of another incremental point at the top of Grade 7, and we will move the minimum salary for Research Fellows to point 32 by August 2026. Both sets of staff will benefit from the £800 increase to London allowance (to £5,000) from December 2023.

Presently research staff do not benefit from the relocation assistance that academic and senior professional services staff receive when relocating. Currently, researchers who require a visa and/or need to pay the immigration health surcharge (IHS) out of country are required to do this personally unless the recruiting department exceptionally agrees to cover it. We see this as a barrier to recruiting top international researchers. Therefore, starting from 1 December 2023, employees whose contacts start on or after this date will be eligible for Researcher visa support. We will cover out of country visa application costs and IHS costs for 3 years, up to a maximum of £4,000.

We believe the band ranges (Professional Services and professorial) are broadly correct, relative to external benchmarks. At Grade 10 all progression in band is relative to excellent contribution - there are no automatic increments. Now that the appraisal window has been moved, we will move the senior salary review process to May/June so that it takes place alongside senior promotions and professorial rebanding timelines. We will also raise the cap on contribution-based rises in 2024 - to allow greater movement within bands and recognise excellence.

This is being worked on, but the current criteria will be adjusted to enable Professors Teaching and Professorial Research Fellows to apply for rebanding. This will allow both sets of staff to apply for rebanding from 2024, alongside colleagues already assigned to the professorial bands.

The band 1 range for professors will be moved up 2.5% in August 2024 and a further 2.5% in August 2025. The band 1 maximum will be raised by the same amounts over the same timescale. This is in addition to any natural increase that will derive from national pay awards in those years. Any staff below those points will be moved up to the new minimums. Anyone promoted will move to at least the minimum in any year.

Minimum Grade 10 salaries will be increased to point 52 in August 2024 and point 53 in August 2025. Staff below those spine points will be moved up to the new minimums from those dates.

Yes, budgets will be adjusted to reflect all the aspects of the reward strategy, aside from costs that may arise once the sabbatical policy is adjusted. Further advice on research grants and costings will follow.