Agreed commitments following the conclusion of the national talks

National Developments

Following the Acas facilitated talks in February 2023, UCEA and the higher education trade unions have agreed to further talks on contract types. When terms of reference and timescales have been agreed, UCEA will consult higher education employers, using its leadership and convening power to identify concrete steps which employers are able to commit to, prior to time limited negotiations beginning. 

As a positive first step, UCEA has agreed to consult higher education employers, with a positive recommendation to take action on zero hours contracts. Further details of this will be published on this webpage in due course. 

In the 17 February 2023 joint statement, UCEA and the higher education trade unions said:

"While the contractual arrangements offered to employees will be for individual institutions to determine, we would expect indefinite contracts with a fixed or minimal hours to be the general form of employment relationship between employers and employees in HEIs.

We accept that there will be specifically defined reasons in any organisation for offering indefinite or fixed term employment arrangements without fixed or minimum hours where it is appropriate. We would expect these reasons to be discussed between HEIs and their local trade unions."

Progress at the University of Exeter

Click  hereto read the section on Fair Employment For All in the joint University and Exeter UCU statement issued on 30 January 2023.

We are now working towards implementing our Fair Employment For All principles: 

• open-ended employment is the normal expectation; 
• fixed term contracts and non-contractual working arrangements are only used in a limited range of defined circumstances; 
• the number of fixed-term contracts is reduced; 
• procedures are available for individuals working on fixed-term contracts and non-contractual working arrangements to seek a review of their contractual status in appropriate circumstances; 
• there are standard paid time allowances for preparation, marking and associated activities for postgraduate students engaged in teaching; 
• regularly timetabled teaching is delivered by individuals engaged on standard contracts of employment.

For more detailed information on the University's Fair Employment For All initiative see  Fair employment for all

National Developments

Following the Acas facilitated talks in February 2023, UCEA and the higher education trade unions have agreed to further talks on workload. When terms of reference and timescales have been agreed, UCEA will consult higher education employers, using its leadership and convening power to identify concrete steps which employers are able to commit to, prior to time limited negotiations beginning. 

Progress at the University of Exeter

One of the strategic prioriities of our Stategy 2030 (insert link) wsa to establish a Wellbeing, Inclusion and Culture Committee (WICC) to provide senior leadership and ensure delivery of our health and wellbeing, diversity and inclusion and development strategies, and their intersectionalities. 

One of WICC's first initiatives was to commission a Workload Allocation and Equity Group in May 2022 to develop University Academic Workload Principles and Processes to ensure that colleagues’ workload is equitable and sustainable and in line with the University Values and Strategy 2030. The Workload Allocation and Equity Group was chaired by the Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy/Dean of the Business School, Professor Alex Gerbasi, and included representation from UCU. Professor Gerbasi gave an update to colleagues during the WICC update on 7 February 2023 (insert link).

The recommendations of the Workload Allocation and Equity Group are now being considered by the University Executive Board. We are expecting to communicate new principles and procedures to colleagues later this month. 

Click  hereto read the section on workoad in the joint University and Exeter UCU statement issued on 30 January 2023.

National Developments

Following the Acas facilitated talks in February 2023, UCEA and the higher education trade unions have agreed to further talks on equality pay gaps. When terms of reference and timescales have been agreed, UCEA will consult higher education employers, using its leadership and convening power to identify concrete steps which employers are able to commit to, prior to time limited negotiations beginning. 

Progress at the University of Exeter 

One of the strategic prioriities of our Stategy 2030 (insert link) is to take action to improve the diversity of our community and our leadership.

Our 2025 EDI Vision (insert link) outlines our vision to develop an environment of Success, Fairness and Equity for all members of our community. 

The University leadership has agreed short, medium and long-term targets with the Council of the University in July 2022 on a breadth of equality measures.

Termly progress reports are provided to Council. You can read the latest at (insert link). 

Click  hereto read the section on pay equality in the joint University and Exeter UCU statement issued on 30 January 2023.

You can read the University's annual gender pay gap reports at (insert link). The 2022 report will be published later this month.

The University is also committed to reporting ethnicity and disability pay gap reports. 

Changes to the national payspine are negotiated nationally in JNCHES (Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff) between UCEA and the higher education trade unions. 

Review of the national payspine

The original national payspine comprised 51 points (1 to 51), each 3% gaps between each point. 

There are now 49 points on the national payspine (points 3 to 51) and, as a consequence of successive years of national uplifts including higher increases for the lower points on the spine, the gaps between points at the lower end have become compressed.

Through the ACAS facilitated talks, there will now be a review of the national payspine. Details of the review will be published on this webpage in due course. The purpose of this review is to address this pay compression that has developed over recent years. 

2023/24 national pay uplift

Recognising the cost-of-living pressures facing colleagues, higher education employers brought forward the 2023-24 national pay negotiations. In January 2023 UCEA, representing more than 140 participating HE employers, made a pay offer which prioritises the disproportionate effect of high inflation on colleagues on the lower part of the national payspine, with a minimum increase of 5% for all other members of staff. Additionally, part of the increase would be implemented in February 2023, with the balance in August 2023. (National pay uplifts are normally implemented in August each year.) 

Following the ACAS facilitated talks on pay as part of the New JNCHES Dispute Resolution Procedure, UCEA and trade unions agreed that "some progress at the lower end of the pay spine has been made... although an impasse, rather than an agreement, has been reached, and it is agreed that with regard to pay the Dispute Resolution Procedure has been exhausted." (See full text of the 17 February 2023 joint statement.) Following standard practice where the national negotiations have failed to result in an agreement, UCEA have advised higher education employers to implement the 2023 February and August uplifts. For more information see [insert link from WB 6 March]. 

Changes at the University of Exeter

Click  hereto read the section on pay in the joint University and Exeter UCU statement issued on 30 January 2023.

At Exeter, we implemented the increase to the Living Wage Foundation’s Living Wage in September 2022 (earlier than the normal date of November), providing an increase of approximately 10% for colleagues in grades B and C.

We implemented other changes to grades B to F in November 2022, benefiting around 60% of colleagues - more info on this is online.

Click hereto read the section on the USS pension scheme in the joint University and Exeter UCU statement issued on 30 January 2023.

On 17 February, Universities UK (representing USS employers) and UCU issued an interim joint statement with respect to the USS dispute.

On 24 February, Andrew Connelly, the University's gave an all-staff talk on USS: watch the recording here. 

What happens next?