Update on new UCL pay and reward strategy
24 October 2023
Changes to the London allowance and the UCL non-clinical pay scale from 1 December 2023.
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We wanted to remind staff that some of the changes UCL announced in July 2023 as part of the £110.2m investment in staff salaries will come into effect from 1 December 2023. In summary, these forthcoming changes are as follows:
London allowance increase
Staff on UCL non-clinical salary structures from Grades 1-7, and grades equivalent to these in Non-Consultant Clinical Academic Pay Scale, Institute of Education (IOE), MRC, Prion, School of Pharmacy (SOP), StR and Junior doctors pay scales will receive £5,000 p.a. as their London allowance. This follows all staff on the UCL scales London allowance being raised to £4.500 from August 2023 and the fringe allowance being harmonised up to that level.
Improvements in UCL non-clinical pay scale
A new point of automatic progression is being added to Grades 1-9, which means staff who have been at the top of the existing automatic grade zone (blue shaded areas) on 1 August 2022 would move up to the next spinal point. For example, someone who is been at point 36 of Grade 7 on or before 1 August 2022 will now progress to the new automatic point 37.
Deleting the minimum points for Grades 3-9, and by doing so, we’ll move all applicable staff (regardless of their probation status) to the new minimum (i.e. the next spinal point).
To reflect these upcoming changes we’ve now updated our pay scales effective from 1 December 2023 on our Salary Scales pages. Additionally, staff on UCL non-clinical grade structure can also check out the impact of these changes by using a calculator available below. The calculator will ask for your grade as at 1 August 2022, and will tell you what your new Spinal Point and London allowance will be from 1 December 2023, and the overall increase to your salary since 1 August 2022 (including the 2023 national pay award, adjustments to London allowance and incremental progression).
As outlined before, we will also be implementing immigration support for new research staff who do not currently receive relocation assistance. This will mean certain visa costs and three years of immigration health surcharge will be covered by UCL for eligible staff. This will take effect from 1December 2023 and our policy reflecting this will be updated shortly.
More changes will take effect in the future in line with our previous communication and we will keep staff informed about any upcoming changes.