Created on: 12 Aug 2025
The EIS ULA national dispute with your employer is regarding the unacceptable pay offer that UCEA tabled at the last New JNCHES meeting in May. The Joint Trade Unions (TUs) submitted a joint dispute with UCEA and there are set to be dispute meetings held next week in an attempt to resolve the issue and have an improved pay offer tabled.
The full and final offer from UCEA can be found here. The pay element of the offer is 1.4% on all pay spines, with employers having the option to defer the uplift until 1st July 2026. If the uplift is deferred by a University, staff are not entitled to backdated pay for those 11 months.
The percentage increase of 1.4% equates to a meagre £803.90 as an annual rise for someone on pay scale 44. After income tax and national insurance have been deducted (and not including additional pension contribution), this would leave members taking home approximately an additional £38 per month. This is not a cost-of-living increase for members, it is a further erosion of your salary and a real terms pay cut.
The EIS and other TUs refute that Universities are unable to offer their staff a decent cost-of-living pay rise. There are some Universities that have millions of pounds in reserves and where senior positions continue to spend vast sums of money on expenses. Other sectors, such as Further Education and the NHS, have received substantially more than this, so why would Higher Education staff be expected to take less? Now is the time for members to demonstrate solidarity and stand together to fight for a decent cost-of-living increase.
The EIS ULA Executive Committee, having met last week, have requested a consultative ballot be held for members to vote on the offer. The Committee are recommending that members reject the pay offer and vote in favour of taking industrial action to pursue an improvement. They are asking members to:
By voting to reject the offer, members need to vote in favour of strike action to apply pressure on employers, forcing them to table an improved one.