The University of Sheffield has awarded a £1,000 payment to all of its employees, equating to an £8.4 million investment, in response to the rising cost of living.
Casual workers and graduate teaching assistants will be provided with an equivalent increase in their hourly rate of pay for any work they have undertaken between October 2022 and July 2023.
This payment is in addition to other pay increases that staff received earlier this year, including agreed changes to pay-grade boundaries with trade union colleagues back in August and the annual national pay award, which applied to all staff and saw pay rises of at least 3%, while those on lower salaries got an up to 9% increase.
As a result of these changes, the university, which employs 8,000 members of staff, invested an extra £6.3 million this year outside of the additional payment into staff salaries, resulting in pay increases of up to 6.5% for more than 5,000 members of staff.
In addition, it has also launched a new cost of living hub to highlight the range of support it offers both staff and students, providing information and guidance that ranges from financial help to cost-saving deals on campus. The university will also work with local partners to support initiatives for wider South Yorkshire communities.
Professor Koen Lamberts, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield, said: “Increases in the cost of living are affecting communities across the UK. The steps we have taken for our students and staff are aimed at helping as quickly as possible, with a range of targeted support.
“For our staff, we have boosted salaries for all, but we have ensured that people on the lowest pay grades have received the largest increases. We know that the pressures that staff face are varied, so we are responding in a number of different ways, including by looking at on-campus costs.”
