University Academic Staff (Remuneration) (Hansard, 18 December 1968)

§ Mr. Edward Short:

The National Board for Prices and Incomes have submitted their first report on the remuneration of the academic staff of universities in Great Britain, which was referred to them as a standing reference in November 1967. The report, number 98, is being published today as Cmnd. 3866.

Subject to approval by Parliament of the necessary supplementary estimate which will be submitted in due course, and to any modifications in detail found desirable, the Government accept the Board's recommendations which most directly affect the salary levels of individual members of staff. The effect of these will be to improve non-clinical salaries by about 5 per cent. overall. The recommendations accepted, which are set out in paragraph 98 of the report, are the following:— Recommendation (v): the present two separate scales for non-clinical assistant lecturers and lecturers should be combined into one shorter scale, rising from £1,240 to £2,735 by 13 increments. This recommendation will give increases ranging from 10 per cent. to 17 per cent. for assistant lecturers and 4 per cent. to 10 per cent. for lecturers, and averaging 7 per cent. over both grades; Recommendation (vi): there should be an increase of 3 per cent. for non-clinial senior lecturers and readers and of 2 per cent. in average non-clinical professorial salary. This will enable universities to pay up to £3,520 to senior lecturers and readers, and the limit on the professorial average for each university will rise to £4,500; Recommendation (vii): clinical staff holding honorary national health service consultancies should be paid on the same scale as national health service consultants; Recommendation (viii): there should be no change in the salaries of other clinical teachers. There will however be for review in the light of the recommendations of the next report of the Review Body on Doctors' and Dentists' Remuneration. 417W Recommendation (xii): London allowance should be faded out; that is, it should continue to be payable, at existing rates, to all staff receiving it before 1st April, 1969, but no new appointments effective on and after that date should carry entitlement to it.

The effective date of the first three recommendations will be 1st October, 1968. Their direct cost is of the order of £3½ million a year. The last increases in pay took effect for non-clinical staff on 1st April, 1966 and for clinical staff on 1st October, 1966.

The report also proposes that university authorities should have freedom to make discretionary payments to all non-clinical staff below the rank of professor in recognition of teaching merit or workload, and that the University Grants Committee should consider the feasibility of establishing committees which would allocate distinction awards to non-clinical professors who had shown outstanding merit, particularly in the establishment and running of teacher departments. Both types of payment would be introduced from 1st October, 1969, and would be subject to a ceiling of 4 per cent. of the relevant salary bill. These, and other recommendations in the report which involve changes in practice or procedure, will require further consideration in the light of the advice of the University Grants Committee, who will consult the interested parties as appropriate.

The Board made no firm recommendation about the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, but suggested that the University Grants Committee should consider with them the application in their circumstances of the main proposals in the report (recommendation (xiii)). The Government's acceptance of the recommendations mentioned above is subject to the outcome of this consideration.