Governing bodies’ HR responsibilities include ensuring that pay and conditions of employment are properly determined and implemented. Institutions have legal duties to inform staff about certain financial and employment matters. Most institutions, in fact, have long-standing agreements with trades unions and have arrangements in place to consult widely and keep staff informed, in addition to formal consultative mechanisms.
There are two national bodies involved in collective bargaining in higher education – the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) and the Joint Negotiating Committee for Higher Education Staff (JNCHES).
Recent years have seen substantial discontent about pay and conditions. In general, pay levels in higher education in the period up to 2000 had fallen behind private and public sector comparators, and the pay structures were no longer fit for purpose. This was the background to the Framework Agreement for the Modernisation of Higher Education Pay Structures which was concluded between UCEA and the trades unions representing HE staff in 2003-04. The Agreement's main provision was that, by 1 August 2006, institutions would introduce new pay structures for all staff covered by existing national pay agreements, which would support the achievement of equal pay for equal value and which would be:
Universities and colleges participate in a number of pension arrangements, and in addition, many pre-1992 universities maintain local schemes for their own support staff - in these instances, lay members of the university’s council may be trustees of the local pension fund. Pension provision is an important element in the total reward package and there has been a growing recognition that staff find the final salary pension schemes in higher education attractive. However, the costs of providing them have increased significantly, and there have already been rule changes to some (including increasing the retirement age of new entrants, reducing pension benefits on premature retirement and changes in the funding of early retirement costs) in order to ensure their long-term viability.
More information [PDF, 57Kb]. See also further material on consulting and negotiating with staff [Word, 29Kb]