Higher Education Pay 2025-26
The New Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES) met on 15 May 2025. The employer's body Universities & Colleages Employers Association (UCEA) made a full and final offer of a 1.4% increase on all pay points. This is well below the current rate of inflation and the lowest offer for public sector workers for 2025/26. UCEA also proposed to delete points 5 and 6 of the pay scale.
The UNISON Higher Education Service Group Executive (HEGSE) consulted its members on the latest offer. Members voted to reject the offer. UNISON, UCU, EIS and Unite have agreed to ballot members for industrial action on the offer.
HESGE has decided to run a disaggregated ballot of members in universities like ours that are covered by the New JNCHES pay bargaining arrangements.
The ballot will be for strike action alone and will run from Monday 20 October to Friday 28 November.
The other unions, including UCU, will be running a ballot on a similar timeline with the aim that any action agreed by the higher education unions will be organised jointly.
The joint unions have written to UCEA calling on them to re-open negotiations and to improve the pay offer to higher education staff and have issued a joint statement.