University staff will receive a 1 per cent pay rise this year after the University and College Union chose not to oppose employers¡¯ final offer.

With three other unions ¨C Unite, Unison and GMB ¨C concluding pay negotiations, universities are now in a position to implement the 1 per cent salary uplift for the 2015-16 academic year, on 20 October.

¡°The employers were pleased to be able to make a fair and substantial offer and one that exceeded the official cost of living indicators,¡± said Paul Curran, vice-chancellor of City University London and chair of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea).

The only union still in dispute is the EIS-ULA, which represents about 1,200 members in Scottish universities ¨C just 1 per cent of the sector¡¯s unionised workforce, Ucea said.

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In addition to the 1 per cent pay increase on all pay points, the offer will also include higher pay rises of up to 2.65 per cent for lower-paid staff.

That will ensure that all those on the 51-point national pay spine are paid at least the Living Wage of ?7.85 an hour, employers say.

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The average pay rises will amount to 2.5 per cent in light of annual increments, merit-based pay and other rises paid to many staff, Ucea says. The 1 per cent deal is above inflation, it adds.

However, it is significantly below average pay rises of more than 3 per cent?.

The end of this year¡¯s pay negotiations follows a decision by UCU¡¯s higher education committee (HEC) against the pay award, despite anger at the ¡°disappointing¡± offer among many members.

In a consultative ballot of members in June, 53.5 per cent of voters indicated a wish to reject the offer ¨C while 55.7 per cent said they would back action short of a strike.

However, only 47 per cent said they would support strike action.

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Without a strong mandate for industrial action from the consultative ballot, a meeting of the HEC on 9 October heard that a ¡°majority of branches did not feel their members would support taking sustained and escalating action for an improvement to the 2015 final offer of 1 per cent¡±.

Only 14 of the 91 branches represented in consultation meetings held earlier had supported a ballot on strike action in late 2015, the meeting heard.

The majority of branches felt that a strike ballot would not be well supported and may be lost, it also heard.

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It was decided that the UCU would simply ¡°note¡± the 2015 offer, rather than reject or accept it, and develop a strategy around pay negotiations in 2016, with a potential strike ballot and industrial action taking place in April or May if next year¡¯s offer was deemed unacceptable.

The ¡°longer timeline enables a sustained period to campaign and link action to leverage over the 2016 claim and negotiating round and the final offer¡±, according to a UCU newsletter published this month.

UCU head of bargaining, Michael MacNeil, said the feedback from well-attended regional meetings and submissions from local branches had indicated that ¡°pay is a key issue and that UCU needs to actively build a campaign on pay¡±.

¡°The committee decided, however, that in regard to the 2015-16 final offer a conclusion had been reached, and that the union would seek to submit an early pay claim for 2016 and move to ballot members if the employers¡¯ response was unacceptable.¡±

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jack.grove@tesglobal.com