We have kept colleagues informed in recent weeks about the progress of 2023/24 national pay negotiations, which were taking place earlier than usual, with the aim of facilitating an early settlement to this year’s pay round.
The Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) has advised employers that, after further facilitated discussions through the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), pay negotiations have now concluded, and that participating Higher Education institutions – including Southampton – should proceed to implement the pay outcome. Implementation is without the agreement of the sector trades unions, with both parties stating that an impasse had been reached in respect of the pay uplift.
The pay outcome provides for increases of between 5.0% and 7.0% to the spinal points we use at Southampton.
Implementation will be staged, as follows:
- With effect 1 February 2023, the full-time equivalent values of spine points 10 to 41 will increase by £1,000, and spine points 42 and above will increase by 2.0%. This part of the uplift will be implemented in March pay, backdated to 1 February 2023.
- With effect 1 August 2023, further uplifts will apply, such that spine points 10-14 will have increased by 7.0%, spine points 15-25 will have increased by 6.0% and spine points 26 and above will have increased by 5.0% compared to their 31 January 2023 values. This part of the uplift will be implemented in August.
These increases are in addition to the investment made independently by the University to enhance our Level 1 to 6 and Level 7 pay scales with effect from 1 January 2023. Taken together, they will deliver cumulative base pay increases during 2023 that average 9.2% and range from 7.1% to 16.8% for our Level 1 to 7 employees, in addition to any contractual incremental progression due.
This sequence of pay changes is complex, and so we have produced side-by-side pay scales and a series of worked examples to demonstrate their impact.
Previous SUSSED posts on pay negotiations:
21 February: Pay negotiations update: Join statement issues: industrial action paused
30 January: Update on 2023-24 New JNCHES pay round
7 December: Early commencement of 2023-24 New JNCHES pay round
