At the end of January, we shared details of the final pay offer made by UCEA as part of the 2023-24 new JNCHES pay round. These negotiations are taking place earlier than usual, with the aim of facilitating an early settlement to the pay round.
Following last week’s discussions, facilitated by the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), UCEA and the higher education sector trade unions have now issued a joint statement.
Both parties agreed that some progress has been made on the uplift at the lower end of the pay spine and that a pay impasse, rather than an agreement, has been reached. The joint statement sets out a number of follow-up actions which will now take place.
Both sides recognised the need to allow for a period of calm during further Acas-facilitated discussions, and agreed that:
- no industrial action will take in the weeks commencing 20 February or 27 February
- HE institutions will not implement the new pay award during that period.
This means that no pay uplift will be included in February salaries, but it remains UCEA’s intention to see an uplift paid in March and backdated to February.
The joint statement is available here.
