Universities should use their £3.4bn surplus to give staff a pay rise to help offset the cost of living crisis – or face the prospect of strikes in the autumn, the University and College Union has warned.
Analysis of universities’ financial data by the trade union found universities had earmarked £4.6bn to spend on new buildings next year, an increase of more than a third on last year, despite giving some staff a below-inflation pay rise of 3%.
The union is calling for an RPI (which stands at 12.3%) plus 2% pay rise. Its calculations estimated that a one-year surplus from Oxford and Cambridge universities, the UK’s wealthiest institutions, could fund a 7.9% pay rise for all university staff.
