University College London (UCL) has awarded its workforce a 9.5% pay rise as part of its new £110 million staffing plan.
The university’s University Management Committee has approved a new pay and reward strategy, which will see staff at the lower and middle points of pay scales receive a larger incremental rise of between 5% and 8% as well as the national pay settlement.
Other new benefits include a rise in London weighting to £4,500 from August and £5,000 by the end of the year for staff in grades one to seven, an increase of minimum pay levels for those in grades one to nine and amendments made to the process of pay progression for professorial and other grade 10 staff.
Additional support for early career researchers will be provided, such as raising the minimum salary for research fellows, improving the promotions process and supporting with visa costs.
It is also planning changes to its wider reward package for professorial staff and is exploring a better sabbatical scheme for researchers that meets their needs, as well as what resources are needed for this.
According to the university, its new strategy aims to reduce the complexity and inefficiency for a better staff and student experience, to release resources to invest in pay and infrastructure, and to give them what they need to do their jobs.
Dr Michael Spence, UCL’s president and provost, said: “Throughout the consultation for our five-year strategic plan 2022–2027, three messages kept recurring: that employees were concerned about levels of remuneration at UCL, about the state of our digital and physical infrastructure, and about workload-creating policies and processes.
“I recognise that there will be much still to be done on our wider programme to improve the staff and student experience, but I hope the measures announced demonstrate how seriously we are committed to improving both remuneration and the conditions.”