Ulster University: Staff set for cost-of-living payment

More than 2,000 Ulster University (UU) staff are to get a one-off cost-of-living payment of up to £1,000.

The payment is the result of an agreement between the university and the University and College Union (UCU).

All of the university's 2,700 staff apart from professors and senior management will receive the extra payment.

As part of the agreement, the UCU at Ulster University has ended a boycott of marking and assessment.

Members of the union at a number of UK universities have staged a series of strikes in a long-running dispute over pay, workloads, pensions and increasing "casualisation" of employment.

• University staff start strike action

• University staff may lose pay over industrial action

The union has said that university staff pay has faced a succession of real terms reductions and staff are also facing cuts of 35% to their pensions.

Meanwhile, prices are rising by about 9% a year - the highest rate of inflation in the UK for 40 years.

The cost-of-living payment for staff at Ulster University was agreed after talks between management and the UCU branch.

'local cost of living crisis'

The UCU union said that the university had recognised "that the current economic climate is creating a 'local cost-of-living crisis' for some staff".

University staff in roles with lower pay, like clerical workers, support staff and technicians, will receive the maximum £1,000 payment.

Payments will then be tapered so staff on higher pay grades will receive less than £1,000.

Many administrative staff, for instance, will receive £750 or £800, while many lecturers will receive an extra payment of £650.

PhD students who teach will receive £150.

The UCU branch at Ulster University also said that the university had made a commitment to increase the number of staff paid above the Real Living Wage of £9.90 an hour.

An Ulster University spokesperson said an agreement had been reached with the union on a number of local matters

In a statement to BBC News NI, a spokesperson for Ulster University said that agreement had been reached with the union on a number of local matters.

Those include "the movement of some fixed-term contract staff to permanent contracts of employment, the provision of a one-off payment for most staff to ease cost of living pressures and a reaffirmed commitment by both parties to future programmes of work regarding pay equality, employee workloads and the contractual status of staff working in the area of research".

The UCU said that staff would receive the one-off payment in the June payroll.

Separately, families on low incomes in Northern Ireland are set to receive a one-off payment of £650 following a measure announced by the UK government.