Pay explainer: annual increases, increments, and national negotiations
August is traditionally when our pay increases each year, but this year things are a little more complicated. The annual increases for the UK-wide pay scale are still being negotiated, but our employer has committed to backdating the finalised pay uplift to 1 August. Annual increments still happened on 1 August, and the roughly 40% of staff who were previously on the top spine point will get an increment this year that we wouldn't have previously because of lifting of the grade boundaries.
To explain the relevant terminology briefly, there is a UK-wide pay scale (the “HE single pay spine”) that lists the "spine points" and the rate of pay for people on those spine points. There is a locally negotiated set of pay scales that determines which spine points correspond to each grade at different institutions. Under our locally negotiated conditions of employment at the University of Edinburgh, staff move up one spine point each year until they reach the top of their grade, unless held back by a formal process or advanced further through contribution reward or academic promotion.
This year's negotiations on the UK-wide pay scale are still ongoing. Typically in August, we would see the annual increase to the pay at each spine point. Pay increases are meant to be negotiated by the employers who are represented by UCEA (Universities and Colleges Employers Association) and by the five trade unions recognised at the UK-level to represent staff in higher education (UCU, Unison, Unite, EIS and GMB). There are annual negotiation meetings through JNCHES (Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff). However, we have not had negotiations that have led to an agreement since 2009, and employers have been imposing their choice of increases. This year, there were many more negotiating meetings than usual, and the employers were later than normal in issuing what is called their full and final offer. UCU's Higher Education Committee voted to reject this offer, as did the corresponding body in Unison, and negotiations will now move to the dispute resolution system.
The employers' pay offer had consisted of, first in August, an increase of a flat £900 to annual pay at each spine point (for full-time staff and pro rata for part time staff), and then, in March 2025, a further increase to bring the total increase up to a total of 2.5% for those on grades represented by UCU at the University of Edinburgh. (There would be higher percentage increases for those on lower grades.) Comparisons of this proposed increase to inflation are complicated, because the UK government produces several measures of inflation; under the latest figures, CPI is 2.0%, but CPIH is 2.8%, and RPI is 2.9%. Our pay has fallen behind inflation, by any measure, over many previous years. The employers' pay offer also included terms of reference for further discussion regarding the structure of the UK pay spine, casualisation (job security), and pay gaps. Because of the delayed process, this year's increases have not been determined and will not be in our August pay. Hopefully, it will be possible to negotiate an improved offer, and it is good news that our local management will backdate any pay increases to 1 August 2024.
Increases in pay arising from increments will appear in our August pay. Earlier this year, our branch negotiated and voted to ratify changes to our local grade boundaries. Roughly 20% of staff benefited in April, when the floor of the grade boundaries were raised. Now, roughly 40% of staff, who had been at the top of their grade or above it in the contribution band, will benefit from an increment that we wouldn't have otherwise received because of the lifting of the top of the grade boundary; most of these will also benefit in future years. It is disappointing that there is no benefit this year for staff in the middle of their grade and that there was not further movement for the middle grades, and our negotiators pushed these points emphatically. Nonetheless, the new grade scale is an important local victory and will mean there is better pay overall in the long term.
