Queen’s University Belfast has had its membership of the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea) revoked after it offered its staff a pay rise outside the formal negotiating process.

In a strongly worded statement, Ucea said it regarded the deal struck locally to end the disruptive marking and assessment boycott at Queen’s as “an extremely serious matter” that was “incompatible with continued membership”.

It said it had informed Queen’s that its membership was being terminated for a period of three years “in the first instance”.

Ucea conducts pay negotiations with the five sector trade unions on behalf of 144 higher education institutions, and all are expected to abide by what is collectively agreed.

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This year, the process was brought forward by several months to take into account the cost-of-living crisis and staff were awarded a rise of between 5 per cent and 8 per cent, the first part of which was paid in February.

The University and College Union (UCU) has called for wages to be increased further, and its members have been boycotting assessments since April.

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About 750 of Queen’s students had been due to graduate without receiving their final degree mark. In June, the university and the union agreed a local deal that saw the boycott called off in return for an extra 2 per cent rise as well as proposals on addressing fixed-term contracts and the development of a strategy to address gender, race and disability pay gaps.

Ucea said all institutions that voluntarily decide to participate in the process are expected to follow its “code for participating employers”, and Queen’s actions were considered to have violated this code.

Some have speculated that the deal agreed at Queen’s “opened the door” to other, more wealthy institutions offering their staff similar negotiations in moves that could further undermine the national process.

In a statement, Queen’s said it “noted” the decision by Ucea. But “our focus has always placed our students first”, it said.

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“Our students were one of the first in the UK to have their graduation affected by the UCU marking and assessment boycott,” the statement added.

“We witnessed at first-hand the devastating effect it has had on them and their families. They are a cohort of students who have already studied through the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. This was not the university journey that any of us would have anticipated or wanted for them.”

Queen’s said “in the absence of any progress being made nationally regarding the industrial action, the local arrangement between Queen’s branch of UCU and the university allowed us to conduct 22 graduation ceremonies for our students and enable them to celebrate their success with their families and friends.

“It has also enabled us to provide students awaiting their degree classifications with certainty as to when they will be received. Therefore, we remain convinced that this local arrangement was the correct and most appropriate course of action for our university and our students.”

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tom.williams@timeshigheredcation.com