Further update on the 2015 national pay negotiations

The University and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) made a full and final offer for the 2015-16 pay round at the final negotiating meeting held on 12 May.

The details of this offer and the trade union response were highlighted in an update in TheWeek@UCL on 19 August 2015. The final offer is for a base pay uplift of between 2.65% and 1% (the larger increases are on the first eight points of the national pay spine) against a backdrop of CPI at 0.1%.

Two of the trade unions (UNISON and GMB) have emphatically accepted the offer, but three (UCU, Unite and EIS) rejected it and invoked the Dispute Resolution procedure. The procedure requires at least two meetings to seek to resolve the dispute. The first Dispute Resolution meeting took place on 7 September. The second and final meeting took place on 17 September.

At this meeting the employers reiterated the final offer on pay and amplified the offer of joint work on gender pay and casual employment - important issues to employers and trade unions alike - in a bid to seek a resolution for the three unions in dispute. UCU, Unite and EIS are now consulting their members.

UCL hopes that there will be a good understanding among HE staff, and specifically among the members of the three disputing unions, that this offer is at the limits of what is realistic and affordable across the sector and that the basic pay uplift is just one element in the total pay, reward and recognition envelope.

The outcomes of the trade unions consultations with their members is not expected until mid-October.