National pay negotiations involving the Universities & Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and the trade unions take place on an annual basis. As updated in May, following the final negotiating meeting of the 2025-26 JNCHES negotiations round on 15 May 2025, UCEA’s negotiating team wrote to the trade unions to confirm the final offer of 1.4% on all points on the pay spine from 1 August 2025.

The trade unions have informed UCEA formally that they have rejected the offer and invoked the New JNCHES (Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff) Dispute Resolution Procedure. This is an agreed procedure to seek to resolve matters. Under the Dispute Resolution Procedure parties are now considering, by Tuesday, 15 July, whether third-party assistance (normally Acas) for mediation and conciliation would be helpful. We envisage UCEA being in a position to provide a further update to employers on this matter on or soon after Wednesday, 16 July.

Universities cannot implement any proposed pay offer until the outcome of the dispute process is confirmed, and we will provide a further update once the outcome of the current dispute resolution procedure is clear.