Staff pay offer 'in line with public sector policy'

Higher education unions and employers met this week to thrash out pay for next year, with lecturers warning they would refuse to accept a deal below 3.4 per cent. The eight pay negotiating groups expected to hear the offer from the Universities and Colleges Employers Association as The THES went to press.

UCEA chief executive Peter Humphreys said he expected to make the same offer to all unions and that it would be based on affordability and be in line with the public sector pay policy. He said all union demands other than pay, such as calls for a 35-hour week or pay review body, would be left to the Independent Review Committee.