Pay & Conditions: Action on pay

Further information for staff about action on pay approved in May 2024, in response to the University's Pay & Conditions review

Last updated with additional detail on the announced measures: 8 July 2024

 

Council has approved a package of immediate action on pay, based on the strength of evidence gathered during the Pay & Conditions review.

For example, with effect from 1 August 2024, the University will: 

  1. Introduce a pensionable Oxford University Weighting of £1,500 a year (paid monthly through payroll, pro rata for part-time and hourly paid staff, and in-year starters and leavers) for all staff on grades 1–10 of the main salary and grading structure. This will be implemented in the September 2024 payroll and backdated to 1 August 2024. The Oxford University Weighting will be applied to the national pay spine points for 2023/24 agreed through UCEA with the trade unions. Please see below for notes on how this applies at different grades (e.g. for staff in grades 1–3 who received the Oxford Living Wage pay uplift in April 2024 and for titular Associate Professors in grade 6–10 roles).
  2. Apply an uplift of one increment from bottom to top of the salary scale for Associate Professors (APs) on grade 10a (which includes payroll system grades 30S, 36S, 38S and 39Q), so that everyone on an Associate Professor pay grade moves up the salary scale by one increment (around a 3% rise), over and above this year’s standard inflationary pay rises and incremental progression. This will also be implemented in the September 2024 payroll and backdated to 1 August 2024. It applies to the University portion of joint appointments. Colleges will communicate separately to academic staff with joint appointments, concerning the college salary contribution.  
  3. For research staff, extend the top of the discretionary scale for each grade from 6 to 10 by one incremental point. Details will follow shortly on when this will be actioned in payroll systems, backdated to 1 August 2024.

By the end of Hilary term 2025, the on-call and standby policy for professional services staff, including entitlement to time off in lieu (TOIL), will also be reviewed.

You can find out more about how these measures will be implemented and further action on pay to get underway or be progressed by the end of the 2024/25 academic year, below. Updates will be added as implementation progresses.

Action to take effect from 1 August 2024:  

  • To address the cost of living in Oxford and to enhance market competitiveness in grades 6–10, all staff on grades 1–10 will receive a pensionable Oxford University Weighting of £1,500 per year (paid monthly through payroll, pro rata for part-time and hourly paid staff, and in-year starters and leavers), with effect from 1 August 2024. This measure will have a proportionally greater impact as a percentage of overall salary for staff in lower grades. It will be applied to the national pay spine points for 2023/24 agreed through UCEA with the trade unions (see notes below on how it interacts with the Oxford Living Wage).
  • To allow time for relevant conversations and payroll changes to be completed, this will be first implemented in the September 2024 payroll, backdated to 1 August 2024. New salary scales will be published when ready, to show the effect of the Oxford University Weighting at each spine point.

Please note:

  • The Oxford University Weighting payment is in addition to any standard incremental progression due (e.g. on 1 August 2024 for grades 1–5 and 1 October 2024 for grades 6–10) and to any inflationary pay rise agreed nationally through negotiations by UCEA (the Universities and Colleges Employers Association) with the trade unions. Information about any additional inflationary pay increase that may be agreed nationally through the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) will be communicated separately this summer.
  • The Oxford University Weighting of £1,500 per year will also apply (on a pro rata basis, with effect from 1 August 2024) to all staff paid on the University’s casual pay scale and those engaged via the Temporary Staffing Service (TSS).
  • For staff in grades 1–3 and the Apprentice grade, the Oxford Living Wage is applied to recognise the high cost of living in Oxford, with an annual rise applied to the salary scales annually, in April. This ensures that everyone in the University is paid at least the Oxford Living Wage.
    • The new £1,500 Oxford University Weighting will be applied to the August 2023 pay scale set nationally through UCEA (the Universities and Colleges Employers Association), for consistency across all affected staff, and will take effect on 1 August 2024 (actioned in the September 2024 payroll and backdated).
    • The Oxford Living Wage increase already applied in April 2024 for many staff in grades 1–3 and the Apprentice grade will therefore be absorbed within this year’s Oxford University Weighting payment, so that staff who received the April 2024 uplift receive the remainder of the £1,500 Oxford University Weighting with effect from 1 August 2024, at the same time as all other staff on grades 1–10.
  • The Oxford University Weighting does not apply to staff on grade 10a (payroll system codes 30S, 38S, 39Q for Associate Professors with Tutorial Fellowship and 36S for Associate Professors with No Tutorial Fellowship); please see separate action on pay for the Associate Professors on grade 10a, below. Staff with Associate Professor title who work in roles graded 6–10 will receive the Oxford University Weighting as described above.

Action to take effect from 1 August 2024:  

  • To enhance market competitiveness for research roles across the University, grades 6–10 will each be extended by one additional spine point at the top of the discretionary range, creating a separate salary scale for researchers. Details of when this will be actioned in payroll systems (backdated to 1 August 2024) will follow shortly.
  • All research staff on grades 6–10 will receive the new Oxford University Weighting of £1,500 per year (pro rata as appropriate) with effect from 1 August 2024 (to be implemented in the September 2024 payroll and backdated, as set out above), together with any standard incremental rise due on 1 October 2024 and any inflationary rise negotiated nationally through UCEA with the trade unions.

Further work to be progressed by Trinity term 2025: 

  • A proposal will be developed to amend the new research salary scale to improve competitiveness, particularly at higher scales, and to ensure that it can underpin effective career progression.

Action to be taken by the end of Hilary term 2025:

  • The on-call and standby policy will be reviewed, with a view to allowing a more tailored approach across functions and an extension of the formal application of time off in lieu (TOIL), where appropriate, for staff in grades 6–10.
  • It is anticipated that this action will particularly benefit staff in professional services roles at grades 6–8, including staff in events, IT and estates roles which require irregular working hours.

Further work to be progressed by Trinity term 2025: 

  • A more detailed examination of the existing pay structure (grades 1–10) will be carried out in relation to the nationally negotiated pay spine, at the level of individual professions or role types. This work will aim to identify options for improving professional services and support staff pay progression and responding to the specific market drivers for different professions (e.g. IT, Finance). 
  • While this review is underway, the relationship between grade 10 and the senior managerial and professional grade (ALC6) will also be reviewed. 
  • A ‘job family’ approach to pay will be piloted in an agreed area of professional services in 2025. ‘Job families’ are groupings or classifications of related job positions within an organisation that share similar characteristics, skills, responsibilities and career paths (e.g. IT support roles). This action is with a view to helping the University to respond more effectively to market pressures. Outcomes of this pilot will be used to inform future discussions about pay structures for professional services and support staff.

Action to get underway from this summer:

Recognising that 83% of Associate Professors are currently at the top of the salary scale (grade 10a), and to help us move towards more competitive pay and better opportunities for pay progression, the following action will be taken: 

  • The Associate Professor scale, grade 10a (which includes the Associate Professor payroll system grades 30S, 38S and 39Q for APs with Tutorial Fellowship and 36S for APs with No Tutorial Fellowship) will be uplifted by one increment from bottom to top, so that everyone on an Associate Professor pay grade moves up the salary scale by one increment (around a 3% rise) with effect from 1 August 2024, including those who are currently at the top of the scale.
  • This Pay & Conditions increment is in addition to any standard incremental progression due on 1 October 2024 (including for those expecting to move to the top of the current scale) and to any inflationary pay rise agreed nationally through negotiations by UCEA (the Universities and Colleges Employers Association) with the trade unions.
  • To allow time for relevant conversations and payroll changes to be completed, this will be first implemented in the September 2024 payroll, backdated to 1 August 2024.  
  • For Associate Professors on joint appointments with a college (APs with a Tutorial Fellowship), this pay uplift applies to the University portion of pay. Colleges will communicate separately to academic staff with joint appointments, concerning the college salary contribution.  
  • An equivalent to two incremental scale points will also be built into revised merit pay schemes as part of the new Academic Career and Reward Framework that will be shared for consultation through standard University governance channels, early in 2025.

Work to be progressed by the end of Trinity term 2025: 

The recommendation to amend the salary structures for all academic staff on professorial pay (including Associate Professors on grade 10a, Senior Researchers on the RSIV grade, and Statutory Professors on pay bands A–D) to incorporate more promotion points and facilitate appropriate step-changes in salary in the longer term, as part of a more defined academic career path, will be taken forward by the Academic Career & Reward Framework (ACRF) project which is already well underway.  

The ACRF project is looking at salary structures and promotion points for all staff with teaching and/or research responsibilities (including researchers on grades 6–10 and RSIV), taking a phased approach with an initial focus on the professorial roles (including Associate Professors). This work is being informed by data gathered in 2023 for the Pay & Conditions review. 

As part of the ACRF project, new mechanisms and criteria are being developed to offer new ways of rewarding and recognising the work of these colleagues. There is also a separate workstream dedicated to addressing workload pressures in roles with teaching and/or research responsibilities, which will inform development of the new framework. 

Formal consultation on the proposed framework for academic career pathways and reward is expected to start in Hilary term 2025. In the meantime, news and updates on the progress of this project can be found on the Academic Career & Reward Framework webpages.

Who these pay measures apply to 

The Pay & Conditions pay measures apply to all non-clinical staff who work for the University.

In the interests of pay parity and transition between employers, there is a long-standing agreement between University and NHS employers that clinical academic pay scales align with NHS scales. Cost-of-living increases are agreed nationally by the University and Colleges Employers Association and reflect what has been agreed for NHS salary scales. Clinical staff are eligible for various clinical allowances and to apply for Local Clinical Excellence Awards and National Clinical Impact Awards. Clinical pay is also within scope of the Academic Career and Reward Framework project.

College-only staff, staff of Oxford University Press (OUP), Oxford University Innovation (OUI) and subsidiaries of the University who are employed on separate terms and conditions of employment, were not in scope of this review.

Oxford Living Wage 

The University continues to be an Oxford Living Wage employer but recognises that cost-of-living pressures are still a significant issue for many. This impacts our ability to recruit and retain staff and compete for talent in some areas.

The new Oxford University Weighting will ensure that more staff benefit from cost-of-living support, whilst ensuring that colleagues at the lower ends of the salary scales (where the annual Oxford Living Wage rises will be absorbed into the Oxford University Weighting) feel the greatest impact. The table below demonstrates the relative value of the Oxford University Weighting at different grades. 

Impact of the £1,500 Oxford University Weighting:

Pay grade Average value as a proportion of total salary
Apprentice 6%
1 7%
2 6%
3 6%
4 5%
5 5%
6 4%
7 4%
8 3%
9 3%
10 2%

 

National pay negotiations 

The pay measures approved for implementation are separate to the sector-wide national collective pay negotiations led by UCEA with the trade unions.  

The University continues to operate within the national Higher Education pay negotiation arrangements. We will continue to implement any inflationary pay rises negotiated by UCEA which typically take effect on 1 August each year, in addition to the Pay & Conditions measures, as well as any standard incremental pay rises that colleagues are due to receive on 1 August 2024 (grades 1–5) or 1 October 2024 (grades 6–10 and the Associate Professor grade, 10a).

Frequently asked questions

Answers to some of the FAQs arising around action on pay can be found on the Pay & Conditions FAQs page, which will be updated regularly.

Your salary and grade information can be found in the 'My Profile: CONTRACT' section of the HR Self-Service System. Please see the Guide to your HR data advice on the Staff Gateway for details of how to access this. Alternatively, please seek guidance from your local HR team.

The University’s current salary scales can be found on the Finance Division website. For payroll purposes, Associate Professor salary scales in the collective group known as ‘grade 10a’ are listed under ‘Academic Salary Scales’ but by the relevant payroll system code, ie 30S, 36S, 38S and 39Q. Each of these refers to a different type of ‘grade 10a’ Associate Professor role (e.g. with or without Tutorial Fellowship). Some staff with Associate Professor title are employed on the main salary and grading structure, grades 6–10.

Contact us

Email payandconditions@admin.ox.ac.uk with any questions about the review or feedback on this webpage

Quick links