ucu.imperial.ac.uk

Imperial College UCU (the Imperial College branch of the University and College Union) has published its account of a joint trade union open meeting on pay for 2025–26. The branch's position, as set out on ucu.imperial.ac.uk, is that management's case for the pay offer does not hold up: the 4.5% increase in salary costs is described as fully explained by normal, predictable factors, management's own email is said to confirm a major rise in overseas student numbers (and therefore resources), and the financial scenarios used in negotiations are characterised as incompatible with one another.

What the branch says the open meeting covered

The page reports on a joint trade union open meeting framed around three questions: what was said, what was revealed, and what management is choosing to do next. The branch's published summary is organised into three arguments, each of which is a direct challenge to management's framing of the pay position.

1. The 4.5% salary cost increase is "normal and predictable"

UCU's first point is that the 4.5% rise in salary costs does not represent a new or exceptional pressure. The branch argues it is fully explained by ordinary, foreseeable factors — the kind of movement any pay round would produce — rather than by anything that should justify holding down pay.

2. Management's email and overseas student numbers

The second point concerns an email from management which, in UCU's reading, inadvertently confirms a major increase in overseas student numbers. Since overseas students are a significant source of income for Imperial, the branch treats this as evidence that resources are available, undercutting claims of affordability constraints.

3. Incompatible financial scenarios

The third point is procedural: UCU says management used financial scenarios during negotiations that were not compatible with each other. If the scenarios cannot be reconciled, the branch argues, they are not a reliable basis for the pay position being put to staff.

Why this matters if you are trying to follow the dispute

The page is a branch campaign and negotiating position, not a neutral record of the outcome. Read it as the union's account of what was said and what it intends to argue next. The three headings above are the branch's own framing, so the practical use of the page is to understand:

• what UCU is disputing (the justification for the pay position, not just the number);
• what evidence it is leaning on (salary cost drivers, overseas student recruitment, the consistency of management's financial modelling);
• where the argument is likely to go next, given the branch's stated view of what management is "choosing to do".

Related activity on the same site

The branch also publishes material beyond pay. A separate item covers a Joint Trade Unions Teaching & Research job family title consultation (autumn 2026): University Management Board asked UCU to suggest new titles for the research and teaching job families, UCU put forward a full proposal, and UMB subsequently proposed a set of titles that, according to the branch, adopt very few of UCU's suggestions. Those titles were to form the basis of negotiations with the joint trade unions in September 2026. This is a useful reminder that the site carries both pay campaign material and job-family/contract issues.

How to use the site

If you want the branch's current position rather than a summary, go to the source pages: the pay negotiations campaign section and the individual posts linked from the homepage. The branch's posts are dated and attributed, so you can track how the position develops across the pay round and the title consultation.

ucu.imperial.ac.uk is the website of the Imperial College branch of the University and College Union (UCU), the UK trade union for university and college staff. It is a branch-level site rather than a national one: it publishes this branch's positions, negotiations and consultations affecting staff at Imperial College London. It is aimed at Imperial's UCU members and at anyone following labour relations at the college, and it is written in English (en-GB).

What the site is

The site describes itself as the "Webpage for the Imperial College branch of the University and College Union." That means the content reflects the branch's own activity and viewpoint, not UCU's national policy pages. If you are looking for national pay claims, membership rules or legal advice, those sit with UCU nationally; this site covers what the Imperial branch is doing.

What you can find there

The material on the site falls into a few recurring categories:

• Pay negotiations. The site has a dedicated campaigns section for pay negotiations, and posts that report on joint trade union meetings about pay. One post covers a 2025–26 pay meeting and sets out the branch's reading of management's position, including arguments that a 4.5% increase in salary costs is explained by normal, predictable factors, that an email confirms an increase in overseas student numbers and therefore resources, and that management used incompatible financial scenarios during negotiations.
• Job family and title consultations. A post on a joint trade union teaching and research job family title consultation (autumn 2026) reproduces the full proposal UCU put to the University Management Board, notes that UMB's own set of titles adopted very few of UCU's suggestions, and states that these titles would form the basis of negotiations with the joint trade unions in September 2026.
• Branch positions and campaign updates. Posts are filed under categories such as campaigns and pay negotiations, so you can follow a single thread rather than reading everything chronologically.

Who it is for

The primary audience is Imperial College staff who are UCU members or are considering joining, plus journalists, researchers and other observers of higher education labour issues. The content assumes some familiarity with Imperial's structures — the University Management Board, joint trade union negotiations, job families — so readers outside the college may need to read a few posts to pick up the context.

How to use it

If you want to know the branch's stance on a current dispute, start with the campaigns category and read the most recent post in that thread. If you want the branch's own proposals rather than its commentary, look for posts that attach or reproduce documents, such as the titles proposal put to UMB. Because the site publishes branch positions, treat each post as an argued case with a stated position rather than a neutral record of agreed outcomes — where a post says negotiations will follow, the outcome is not yet on the page.

The site does not present itself as a membership sign-up or payment portal, and no pricing or login terms are stated in the material available, so do not assume anything about cost or access from the site alone.

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.

Imperial College UCU's page records that the University Management Board (UMB) asked the branch to suggest new titles for both the research and teaching job families at Imperial. UCU submitted a full proposal, but the titles UMB subsequently put forward adopt very few of the union's suggestions. Those management titles are set to form the basis of negotiations with the Joint Trade Unions in September 2026. The consultation is therefore about job titles, not pay or grading, and it is still at the negotiation stage rather than settled.

What the consultation covers

The consultation concerns two job families:

• Research job family — the career track for staff whose role is primarily research.
• Teaching job family — the career track for staff whose role is primarily teaching.

The page frames this as a title consultation, meaning the discussion is about what these roles are called, not about the underlying pay, grade, or contract structure. UCU's involvement began when UMB asked the branch to propose new titles for both families.

What UCU proposed and what management put forward

According to the page, UCU sent UMB a full written proposal setting out suggested changes to the titles. UMB then responded with its own set of titles for the two job families.

The key point recorded on the page is the gap between the two:

The page does not reproduce the full text of either list in the excerpt available, so the specific title wording on each side is not set out here. What is clear is that UCU's suggestions were largely not taken up in the management proposal.

Why the September 2026 negotiation matters

The management titles are not final. They are described as the basis for negotiation with the Joint Trade Unions in September 2026, which means the union side still has a formal opportunity to argue for changes before any titles are agreed.

If you are a member of staff in either job family, the practical implications are:

• Your current title is not yet changed by this consultation.
• The negotiation outcome will determine whether UCU's suggestions are incorporated.
• The Joint Trade Unions — not UCU alone — will be at the table in September 2026.

Where to follow the detail

The page sits under the branch's Uncategorised section and is dated 6 August 2026. It links to the full UCU titles proposal submitted to UMB, which is the primary document if you want to see the exact wording UCU recommended. The branch's pay negotiations section is a separate area of the site, so do not expect the title consultation to be covered there.

For members wanting to act on this, the useful step is to read the linked UCU proposal and compare it against the management titles once those are published in full, then raise any concerns through the branch ahead of the September 2026 Joint Trade Union negotiations.