After a lengthy process of pay negotiations with the University’s Senior Management Team (SMT), Richmond Faculty and Staff have been offered a 1.84% pay rise (on a variable rate) to begin in January 2023. Given that the University had not budgeted for a pay rise, this offer is a welcome improvement that builds on the very low initial offer of 1.25%. However, it was our hope that the University would also take into account the steep rise in the cost of living currently being experienced by all of us working at Richmond.

In April, UCU Richmond made a well-founded pay claim to the University for an across-the-board pay increase of 11.99%. This claim was based on the inflation since the last pay increase in 2018 and historically low Richmond pay compared to HE sector averages (see pay factsheet below).

Thanks to the UCU Richmond Branch’s achievement of recognition by the University in February 2021, during these negotiations we have been able to represent all Faculty regarding pay and have made the following progress:

• The University had budgeted £0 for a pay increase and we have moved them to the 1.84% offer through negotiation;
• The University agreed to consolidate the increase into the pay scale, raising the maxima, instead of providing one-off payments for some faculty;
• A new SMT-UCU working group on pay and pay scales is being established with the aim to close the gap between Richmond pay and HE sector averages;
• The issue of pay is now recognised as a key issue with Richmond’s Board of Trustees who have made a commitment for the gap between Richmond and HE Sector averages to be closed;
• SMT have committed to facilitating UCU Richmond being more meaningfully involved in pay discussions and negotiations with annual pay discussions due to take place from now on.

Despite this progress, UCU Richmond are disappointed with the end result of a 1.84% pay increase as this comes nowhere close to addressing cost of living and inflation increases and comes as a huge blow to morale after Faculty and Staff worked tirelessly through the pandemic. Faculty also donated their summer school 2021 teaching fees to the University in response to our financial crisis and the threat of closure which arose before the pandemic.

Throughout the pay negotiations, UCU Richmond has been frustrated by the University‘s divisive conflation of Faculty Progression and Promotion (FPP) with our demand for a universal pay uplift to compensate for huge increases in the cost of living. The University ‘warned’ that any pay rise above their initial offer of 1.25% would effectively ‘eat in’ to the budget for FPP and the final 1.84% increase has done so by 50%. UCU Richmond has polled its members, and it is the Branch’s position that these distinct budget areas should not be conflated for the following reasons: a) FPP is only being trialled at this stage, and b) FPP will only benefit a limited number of individual permanent Faculty: Adjunct Faculty, Instructors, and Staff are at present excluded from this process.

UCU Richmond strongly supports the intention behind the FPP and anticipates its full implementation after it has been successfully trialled so that the University can become competitive in terms of salaries, and particularly as it lags behind sector norms; however, the need for an across-the-board pay-lift must take precedence at a time when all Richmond’s employees are facing an unprecedented financial challenge.

In light of these in some respects disappointing negotiations with the University and with pay negotiations set to re-start at the beginning of 2023, UCU Richmond calls on all Richmond Faculty and Staff to join UCU. Increased numbers of Faculty and Staff – who ought to be equally represented within UCU Richmond – will strengthen our negotiation power in future rounds, as the University has repeatedly asked for ‘proof’ of our support base and questioned our ability to speak for all Faculty. We need your support to deliver a decent and fair pay rise for all.