We are the University

Our demands are straightforward, reasonable and achievable. We are calling for:

• a pay uplift that is at least RPI + 3.5% or £2,500, whichever is the higher, on all pay points
• joint action to protect national agreements relating to terms and conditions of employment
• a national agreement to avoid redundancies, course closures, and cuts to academic disciplines across the sector.

The below inflation offer for 2025/26 of a 1.4% increase from UCEA, the employers' body, translates into another real-terms pay cut and was imposed by almost all university employers from 1 August 2025.

We entered talks this year committed to working together for the sake of the sector, and to protect our members' pay, working conditions, and jobs. Unfortunately, the employers' final offer fails to value university staff and forces you to bear the costs of a failed market sector that employers themselves have championed at every turn. 

This position simply cannot go unchallenged and winning the industrial action ballot is the only way we can do this.

Our sister unions in JNCHES (UNISON, GMB, Unite and EIS) are also balloting their members. This joint response will increase both our bargaining power and workplace solidarity.  

The ballot of members covered by the JNCHES negotiating umbrella, conducted by post as required by law, closed on 28 November 2025.

Ballot result

The scrutineer's report from Civica Election Services confirm that UCU members working across the UK in higher education voted yes for strike action by a ratio of 70:30. Despite this, we have fallen short of the legally required 50% threshold to take strike action.

Please read a message from the general secretary here.

You can find the full breakdown below:

• HE pay and conditions ballot results, 28 November 2025 [171kb]
• HE pay and conditions ballot Northern Ireland results, 28 November 2025 [311kb] *

*Northern Ireland is not subject to anti-trade union laws regarding industrial action ballot turnouts