On 20 February 2023, Peter Mitchell, Interim Director of HR, emailed all staff. You can read the message below:
Dear Colleague,
I am writing to let you know, that the current period of national strike action relating to pay and working conditions and the USS pension scheme has been paused for two weeks. This means that the scheduled University and College Union (UCU) strike days on 21, 22, 23, 27 and 28 February and 1 and 2 March have all been called off.
These are now normal working days for all staff. However, as this has happened at short notice, where applicable, please discuss the reinstatement of working arrangements with your line manager.
The decision to pause the strikes follows discussions between the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) - representing 144 participating higher education institutions in the collective bargaining process for pay - and the recognised sector unions at the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS).
Whilst the current disputes are not yet resolved, UCU have confirmed their decision to pause industrial action relating to pay and working conditions and the USS pensions disputes to provide a period of calm to facilitate further discussion.
Where staff have already declared themselves “on-strike” on any of the cancelled strike days noted above, they will no longer have a day’s pay deducted. Later strike days are still due to go ahead as planned at the moment and pay deductions for those will be made as previously advised, on days that staff declare themselves on strike.
What has happened?
In respect of the pay dispute, both parties - UCEA and the trade unions - agreed that a pay impasse, rather than an agreement, has been reached. UCEA made a final pay offer of between 8% and 5%, from August 2023, with a proportion of that to be paid from February, six months in advance of the usual pay uplift date.
In respect of the USS dispute, there are some indications of the possibility of a more favourable formal valuation of the scheme funding. This could provide the opportunity for the parties to negotiate improvements to benefits and/or reductions in contributions, although it is recognised that the actual outcome of the valuation would need to wait until after the March 2023 evaluation. Any changes to the scheme would also require the approval of the Pensions Regulator.
What next?
As part of the next phase of negotiations for 2023-24, UCEA and UCU have agreed to talks next week to determine the jointly agreed work necessary on other priority issues, including a joint commitment over a revised/refreshed pay spine, and a commitment to negotiations on contract types, workload and pay gaps. Work will continue through ACAS conciliation until the end of February 2023.
We are pleased that current strike action has been paused and we hope that a resolution can be found to both disputes.
We are aware how inflation and cost of living disproportionately affects lower paid staff, and we have taken measures to support staff through our £6.6m cost of living support package and by becoming a real living wage (RLW) employer. We are also committed to collectively supporting better pay and conditions for our staff through collective bargaining.
Further information
We will be keeping students informed of these updates and it would be very helpful, if asked for any information on this, to direct them to the Student Hub.
We will also be updating information and guidance for you on our Industrial Action webpages, which include FAQs and a full glossary of terms.
Best wishes,
Peter Mitchell
Interim Director of HR