Record rise in UKRI PhD stipend hailed as ‘major win’

Thousands of UK-based PhD students will benefit from the largest real-terms stipend rise in two decades after Britain’s main research funder unveiled an 8 per cent increase to annual payments.

From October the minimum stipend awarded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will rise to £20,870, it was announced on 30 January.

The hike amounts to the biggest real-terms increase in the tax-free stipend, which is used by most universities to decide their payments to doctoral candidates, since 2003, said UKRI. A 10 per cent rise in 2022 followed a time of high inflation, while a 5 per cent increase was awarded in 2023, followed by a 3.3 per cent rise last year.

In its announcement, UKRI said the latest rise was part of efforts to “provide an amount at least equivalent to the take-home income from the national living wage over the 2025 to 2026 academic year”.

According to a new report by SQW and London Economics, which was commissioned by UKRI, there is widespread support for the move, which would see a PhD student earn the equivalent of someone on a national living wage salary, which was about £19,500 in 2024.

UKRI would “continue to reflect on the conclusions of the report, changes to the remit of the Low Pay Commission, and UKRI’s future funding settlement”, the funder said, adding that it would then “update on our approach to setting future stipend rates”.

Addressing concerns that the higher stipend uplift would mean fewer funded PhDs, UKRI added that it was “not planning to reduce student recruitment for the forthcoming year in light of this announcement”.

The stipend hike was hailed as a “major win” for the University and College Union’s ‘PGRs as staff’ campaign, which has urged UKRI and universities to peg their stipends to the Real Living Wage, which will rise to £12.21 for over-21s this year.

“The improvements to pay and conditions that UKRI has set out today are another step on the road to PGRs being treated as staff, not students, and the change cannot come soon enough,” said Jo Grady, the University and College Union’s general secretary.

In addition, the funder also announced changes to terms and conditions, which take effect in October 2025 and include allowing students to take up to 28 weeks of medical leave, making it easier for those who take medical or additional leave to get an extension to their studentship and removing barriers that might prevent disabled students getting support.

The new changes would also ensure students are “treated in a way that is transparent and fair”, it added.

Ottoline Leyser, chief executive of UKRI, said the funder’s “investments in postgraduate students are part of the bedrock of our portfolio”.

“Postgraduate training is critical to building the workforce needed for an innovation-led economy and public sector, and to delivering outstanding research and innovation outcomes,” she continued, adding that to “capture these benefits, postgraduate training must be accessible to a wide range of people, and to support them to reach their full potential.”

“The increase in the postgraduate stipend and changes in terms and conditions we are announcing today are part of our ongoing work to forge a new deal for postgraduates, widening access to the diverse and fulfilling careers that research and innovation has to offer,” she added.

Other changes expected for 2025 include the minimum fee for a UKRI student, which is paid to a student’s university from the UKRI grant, increasing by 4.6 per cent to £5,006.

The funder will also seek to recruit a panel of research organisations to the next phase of its work on the full economic cost of training doctoral students.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com