UK higher education institutions should stagger pay deductions and ensure staff have a “reasonable workload” in return for academics bringing their marking and assessment boycott to an end, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea) has recommended.

Outlining an offer aimed at ensuring the remaining students still impacted by the boycott receive their final grades, Ucea has stopped short of instructing institutions to return pay deductions taken from those participating – a key demand of the University and College Union (UCU) – because this would be “unfair to the many staff who have worked tirelessly to mitigate its impact”.

Instead, the employer body said it would recommend to institutions that any planned pay deductions that have not yet been withheld be staggered over a longer period of time to “ease the financial impact on UCU members”.

And universities should “recognise the pre-booked leave arrangements of staff and the importance of having a reasonable workload upon the resumption of normal working”.

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Ucea held three meetings with union officials in July after UCU members refused to set or mark assignments as part of a long-running dispute over pay and working conditions, leaving thousands of students unable to graduate as planned.

Chief executive Raj Jethwa said there was an “urgent need to reset industrial relations and to end the cycle of industrial action in higher education” but said significant changes to the sector’s funding model over the past decade had placed financial pressures on institutions, meaning the sector cannot afford a higher pay rise.

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UCU general secretary Jo Grady said that union members “will not be cowed by employers’ bullying tactics and will continue to hold the line in the marking boycott”, adding that the union was “preparing the ground for legal action”.

“University bosses have now made it clear they would rather throw students under the bus than settle this dispute,” she said. “They are refusing to offer staff anything on pay, nor will they redress the punitive deductions many members have suffered for participating in the marking and assessment boycott.

“This is causing untold harm to our members and untold harm to students.”

Meanwhile, UK universities look set to be hit with yet more strikes in the autumn term after 13 more Unison branches backed industrial action.

The union – which represents non-academic staff such as cleaners, security guards and administrators – has announced the results of its latest strike ballot. Of the 28 branches polled, 13 voted yes to taking action and passed the 50 per cent turnout threshold.

These were the universities of the West of England, Dundee, Gloucestershire, Brighton, Glasgow and Chichester as well as Leeds Trinity, Solent, Plymouth Marjon, City, Glasgow Caledonian, Arts University Bournemouth and the Glasgow School of Art.

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They will join nine branches already taking action, with Unison officials meeting on 1 August to discuss next steps.

Unison members last held strikes in June and July, with SOAS University of London and the universities of Leeds and Winchester among the worst affected.

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Unison and UCU have argued that the pay rise awarded to higher education staff this year represents a real-terms pay cut, given it is below the rate of inflation.

Ucea instructed institutions to pay staff between 5 and 8 per cent more, with the largest rises going to the lowest-paid staff. The second part of the increase was due in pay packets in August but several institutions have signalled they are deferring payment due to their current financial situation.

Announcing its ballot result, Unison said the “ball was in Ucea’s court”. “Our members are ready and willing to strike over your lack of action on pay. Only an improved pay deal will halt this action,” it warned the employer body.

Mr Jethwa said it was “disappointing” that the union had voted for industrial action.

“This year’s pay uplift of 5-8 per cent prioritised the disproportionate effect of high inflation falling on the lower paid,” he added.

“Nearly half of the uplift was delivered six months early to address cost of living pressures. Around half of HE staff on the new JNCHES spine will also be eligible for pay progression, typically worth 3 per cent on top of the base pay uplift. The remaining portion of the 2023-24 uplift will be implemented with effect from today, 1 August 2023.”

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tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com