Where to find Imperial College UCU pay negotiation updates

Updated

Imperial College UCU's pay negotiation updates are collected under a dedicated "Pay Negotiations" campaign category on its website at ucu.imperial.ac.uk. The category archive at /archives/category/campaigns/pay-negotiations is the main place to browse past posts, meeting write-ups and branch statements on pay. If you want the branch's own account of what happened in a round of talks rather than the College's version, this archive is where to start.

What the pay negotiations archive contains

The category groups posts the branch files under its pay campaign. From the material published there, the branch uses these posts to:

  • Report back on joint trade union open meetings on pay, including what was said and what management revealed
  • Set out the branch's reading of management's financial claims, for example the argument that a 4.5% increase in salary costs is explained by normal, predictable factors
  • Challenge specific claims made in management communications, such as an email that the branch says inadvertently confirms a rise in overseas student numbers and therefore resources
  • Point out where the branch believes management used incompatible financial scenarios during negotiations

Posts are written from the branch's perspective, so treat them as advocacy rather than neutral minutes. They are still useful for tracking the sequence of offers, meetings and responses.

How to browse and follow updates

  1. Open https://ucu.imperial.ac.uk/archives/category/campaigns/pay-negotiations to see posts filed under the pay campaign, newest first.
  2. Read individual posts for the branch's account of a specific meeting or claim. Longer posts are often structured as numbered points responding to a management statement.
  3. Check the site's main news feed for related items that may not be filed under the pay category, such as joint trade union consultations.
  4. If you are a member, use the branch's usual member communication channels for meeting notices and calls to action; the public site carries the record, not the scheduling.

Related branch activity worth knowing about

The same site carries other current consultations. One example is the Teaching & Research job family title consultation, where University Management Board asked UCU to suggest new titles for the research and teaching job families. The branch published its full proposal, and management subsequently put forward a set of titles that the branch notes adopt very few of its suggestions. Those titles were set to form the basis of negotiations with the joint trade unions in September 2026.

That item matters for pay watchers because job family titles and grading sit close to pay structures, so consultation outcomes can affect how roles are classified and paid.

What to check before relying on a post

  • Date: negotiations move, and a post reflects the position at the time it was written.
  • Authorship: posts are branch communications, so attribute claims to the branch rather than treating them as agreed facts.
  • Scope: a pay category post may cover one meeting or one management claim, not the whole dispute.
  • Status: a proposal described in a post may still be under negotiation, as with the job family titles.

If you need the College's position as well, read the branch post alongside the management communication it responds to, so you can compare the two accounts of the same figures.