UCL commits to same pay and benefits for its cleaning, catering and security staff

As a first step, UCL will offer these staff the same holiday entitlements as UCL’s directly employed staff from 1st December this year.

The decision, taken this week and supported by Council – UCL’s governing body – will affect around 800 security, cleaning and catering staff, who work for Sodexo or Axis.

UCL will also achieve parity on other employment benefits, including pay scales, overtime, sick pay, maternity and paternity payments and carers’ pay as soon as possible – subject to further negotiation and agreement with UNISON, with which UCL has recognition arrangements in place. The university is committed to having all changes in place by August 2021.

A further decision has been made to ensure these staff will also receive the same pension contributions as directly employed UCL staff. UCL is also committed to exploring the best options for pension arrangements for these staff.

Professor Michael Arthur, UCL President & Provost, said: “Our colleagues working in security, cleaning and catering fulfil essential roles at UCL, on which we all depend. We have listened carefully to their concerns and we are acting to ensure they will receive the same or equivalent pay and benefits as directly employed staff. We will continue to listen and respond to concerns raised by our community.”

Links

• UCL Human Resources: Colleagues in security, cleaning and catering