Annual Pay Bargaining Process

How does the process work?

The pay bargaining for 2026/27 will commence on Thursday, 16 April 2026, with the aim to conclude negotiations prior to August 2026, when they will be implemented. The process will run as follows:

  1. The University Management Board (UMB) will consider affordability as the principal requirement to determine what the annual pay award should be. They will also look at:
    • recruitment and retention data from Imperial
    • higher education institutions and other sectors’ pay awards
    • benchmark salary data
  1. The UMB will set the pay mandate, which is the total amount Imperial can spend on the annual pay award.
  2. The JTUs make their pay claim, which sets out a request for a specified pay increase amount and the rationale behind it.
  3. Imperial's Negotiating Team and UMB members will review the JTU pay claim and raise any queries they may have (in writing) with the JTU members in advance of the opening meeting. Imperial's Negotiating Team will also produce costings of the JTU claim before the opening meeting and send them to the JTU side in advance.
  4. At the opening meeting, Imperial's Negotiating Team will present an initial response to the JTU pay claim (in line with the pay mandate set by the UMB).
  5. A number of negotiating meetings will take place on a mutually agreed-upon basis. The maximum meeting threshold seen in previous years has been removed for this year to enable both sides additional time and flexibility to present their claims and respond to any follow-up queries and responses following each adjourned meeting.
  6. Following each meeting, both Imperial's Negotiating side and the JTU side will draft joint statements on the progress made. These statements will be published on this web page and made available for all staff to view.
  7. At the end of the negotiations, Imperial's Negotiating Team will submit a final, written offer to the JTUs. The JTUs will share this with committee members and trade union members 24 hours before it is published on this web page.
  8. The final written offer will be presented by the JTUs to their members for a vote on whether to accept or reject it. The outcome of the JTU members' vote will be presented to the UMB, which will make a final decision on what action to take.
  9. In previous years, the typical process saw the HR team apply any salary increase to all salaries covered by local pay bargaining, effective from 1 August (with the changes to salaries processed by Payroll). Where a decision to implement a pay award is made after 1 August, the pay award is backdated to 1 August. 
Which salaries are covered?

The academic, research and professional, technical, operational services, learning and teaching salary scales are covered by this local pay bargaining process.

Clinical salary scales – which are set by the NHS, not by Imperial – are not covered by this process.

For staff who are employed on the national pay scales, any annual pay award is determined by national pay negotiations between UCEA (the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association) and HE Trade Unions.

Who is involved in the process?
Imperial's negotiating team Negotiations support Joint Trade Unions 
Kathryn Al-Shemmeri Olivia De Launey Jacquest UCU - Vijay Tymms
Audrey Fraser Jamaica Kelly UCU - Tom Pike
Anna Caffyn   UCU - Amanda Sackur
Carey Southward   UCU - Charlotte Kestner
Chris Watkins   Unison - Tanya Hunt
Jane Hay   Unison - Boyana Petrovich
Jason Riley   Unison - Aurick Sahota
Lizzie Burrows   Unison - Oliver Davis
Richard Craster   Unite - Ailsa Levvy
    Unite - Antonio Mateiro
    Unite - Mike Jones
    Unite - Ahlam Khamliche
Pay Award 2026/27

This section will be updated once local pay bargaining has concluded. 

Who can you contact?

The 2026/27 local pay negotiation meetings will commence on Thursday, 16 April 2026. If you have any questions regarding the above, please contact one of the following: