Labour to unveil £1.5bn to boost academics' pay

Academics are set for a three-year catch-up pay deal as a result of a £1.5bn funding boost for universities to be unveiled next month.

The cash injection – in the Government's long-awaited blueprint for higher education – will pave the way for a deal for academics linked to modernising the way they work.

It will see the higher education budget rise from £5.3bn a year to £6.8bn over the three years of Chancellor Gordon Brown's comprehensive spending review settlement.

Prime Minister Tony Blair has already let it be known he wants part of the package to be used to boost lecturers' pay.

At Labour's National Policy Forum on 1 December, he said university lecturers were "probably the worst-paid workers in the public sector".

He said their pay had only increased by five per cent in the past 20 years whereas the figure for the rest of the economy was 45 per cent.

The deal is separate from any long-term review of student finance – which will also be included in the blueprint.

Ministers have warned students will have to pay more for their higher education although Mr Blair has ruled out parents paying "thousands" in up-front university top-up fees.

The money was cautiously welcomed by unions representing academics. But it is well short of the £10bn university vice-chancellors say is needed to bring buildings up to scratch and prevent staff leaving.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, said: "An increase of £1.5bn will just about stop the appalling rot that has set in within the university sector but would not go far enough to fund the Government's higher education reform agenda.

"A huge injection of money is required because the university system has been severely undermined during the last two decades because continuous increases in student numbers haven't been matched by increases in resources."

On pay, she added: "During the past 20 years, pay for lecturers and support staff has fallen dramatically in comparison to almost every other comparable group – this is despite the fact their workload has increased by up to 100 per cent."

Tom Wilson, of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education, said the union was prepared to look at a longer-term deal "because of the complexities of the issues involved".

Professor Ivor Crewe, vice-president of Universities UK – the body which represents vice-chancellors, said: "There is no doubt that salaries have fallen badly behind so any money to help raise them is welcome.

"The Government has always said if there is to be more money for salaries there have to be certain strings attached."

Some sources have suggested a three-year deal could see real-term rises of up to 18 per cent for academics. The starting salary is just over £22,000 a year for academics and £18,000 for research staff.

The modernisation agenda is likely to link pay rises to the contribution made by academics to their universities. Universities might also be told to make changes to the degree structure and the way they govern themselves..

Leading universities have claimed they are unable to compete with salaries offered abroad and, as a result, are suffering from a brain drain.