SDG8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
Northumbria supports sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and decent employment conditions for all, both through our research and our own operations. This page outlines Northumbria's policies, processes and practices that support Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth.
Employment Practice Living Wage
Northumbria University is a fully accredited Living Wage Employer, and pays all directly employed colleagues at least the Voluntary Living Wage. In addition, our staff receive generous rewards and benefits, including sickness leave, annual leave, parental leave and pensions.
Employment Practice Unions
At Northumbria, we recognise both UCU and UNISON and work closely with them on staffing and employment matters for all, including women and international staff. Each union has an active branch on campus and is invited to meet new colleagues during our staff induction days. We also publish our Trade Union Facility Time data annually.
We engage with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), which negotiates with the recognised trade unions on our behalf regarding collective bargaining and national pay awards.
The trade unions play an important role in advocating for fair pay and working conditions, particularly for staff who may face specific barriers. They campaign on issues of equality and inclusion, supporting women, ethnic minority staff, disabled staff, international colleagues and LGBTQ+ staff.
Our engagement with the trade unions also touches on sustainability. UNISON designated 2026 as its Year of Green Activity to raise awareness of climate change as a workplace issue and to encourage a Just Transition in which workers and their representatives are involved in changes that affect their workplaces. We are supporting Northumbria’s UNISON branch on this agenda, including their appointment of an Environmental Officer and working together in areas of shared interest such as staff engagement, greener workplace practices, sustainable travel, procurement and the use of energy and resources.
Employment Policy on Discrimination
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy seeks to end discrimination in the workplace by ensuring equal access to opportunities and services for all prospective and existing staff and students. The Policy ensures they are treated fairly regardless of the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation (sexuality), or any other inappropriate or irrelevant criteria or distinction. The Policy applies to all colleagues, students, agency workers and contractors. It was approved by the Board of Governors and last reviewed in July 2025.
Section 2.2 of the policy includes the following commitments:
2.2 Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED)
2.2.1 The Equality Act introduced a Public Sector Equality Duty that requires public bodies, including universities, to consider how their policies and practices can:
1. Eliminate unlawful discrimination: proactively prevent discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
2. Advance equality of opportunity: identify and remove barriers that disadvantage individuals with protected characteristics.
3. Foster good relations: promote understanding and respect among people from different backgrounds.
2.2.2 Northumbria University is committed to meeting these objectives by creating an inclusive environment where all individuals feel valued and supported. While we uphold our legal obligations, we also strive to foster a culture that embraces diversity, inclusion and belonging.
2.2.3 The University does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment or victimisation. Such behaviour is taken seriously and may result in disciplinary action. We are also committed to balancing our legal responsibilities with the principles of freedom of speech, ensuring respectful expression for all members of our community.
The policy includes specific responsibilities for staff and managers to promote an inclusive working environment where discrimination, harassment and victimisation are not accepted or tolerated.
We promote Equality, Diversity and Inclusion through our Policy and ensure allegations of discrimination are fully investigated under our Grievance Procedure and Unacceptable Behaviours Policy. These procedures seek to end discrimination and ensure no staff member or student is treated less favourably based on age, disability, gender, race, colour, nationality, religious belief or sexual orientation, and set out how, as an organisation, we meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and the Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023. Our annual EDI Report 2024 to 25 sets out how this policy operates in practice, including our EDI governance structure chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and our achievement of an institutional Athena SWAN Silver Award and a Race Equality Charter Bronze Award during the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
Employment Policy Modern Slavery
Our Anti-Slavery and Human Trafficking Policy confirms Northumbria's position on modern slavery and summarises its provisions for mitigating the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking in its activities and supply chains, in line with the Modern Slavery Act 2015. The Policy was approved by the Board of Governors on 26 June 2023 and last reviewed on 6 October 2025. Each year, we produce a Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement, which demonstrates our commitment against forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour, the most recent covering 2025/26.
Employment Policy on Pay Scale Equity
Our policy on pay scale equity includes a commitment to the measurement and elimination of gender pay gaps. This is further endorsed by our University Strategy 2030, which, under the strategic commitment 'We promote fairness in a community where all staff and students feel they belong', commits to eliminating median pay gaps by 2030 by gender, ethnicity and disability. We publish a Gender Pay Gap Report annually, which details the difference in average pay between all men and women within the organisation and provides recommendations for action, the most recent covering 2025/26. To further demonstrate our commitment to addressing and promoting gender pay scale equity across the university, Northumbria has been a member of the Advance HE Athena SWAN Gender Equality Charter since 2012, and holds a Silver Athena SWAN award.
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy commits the University to upholding its responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010, which includes the right of women and men to equal pay for equal work.
Tracking Pay Scale for Gender Equity
Each year Northumbria publishes our Pay Gap Report to measure and track pay scale gender equity across the university. Our 2025 data shows that our median gender, ethnicity, disability and LGBTQ+ pay gaps have all reduced from 2024. In our most recent Pay Gap Report, we extended our analysis to report on our LGBTQ+ pay gap, along with gender, ethnicity, disability and considerations on intersectionality, and looked in more detail by faculty, department, age and length of service in relation to gender pay. We recognise that narrowing pay gaps with the ambition of elimination is not quick or easy and requires meaningful, consistent and sustained changes in practice and cultural norms, and this additional analysis provides us with a more comprehensive understanding of the disparities that exist and helps us to develop more targeted actions to achieve our ambitious aim.
As part of our Athena SWAN Charter membership we have agreed specific commitments that seek to reduce the gender pay gap, including ensuring that gender equality work is distributed appropriately, is recognised and properly rewarded.
Employment Practice Appeal
We have an employee practice appeal process in place to support employees in appealing on employee rights and pay, which is documented in our Grievance Procedure. Our Grading of Roles Policy details the process by which staff can request a revaluation of pay for their role. This is carried out in accordance with the Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) scheme, and provides all staff with access to fair procedures to resolve workplace issues, including allocation of work, working conditions, career development opportunities and management practices.
Labour Rights
We recognise UCU and UNISON at Northumbria and fully abide by the law to ensure freedom of association and collective bargaining for all, including women and international staff. Both unions represent staff during the collective bargaining of pay award negotiations through the Universities and Colleges Employers Association, of which Northumbria is a member. We publish Trade Union Facility Time on our website, the paid or unpaid time released from an employee's normal role to undertake trade union duties and activities as a representative on campus. In the period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, Northumbria provided 4,260.8 hours of facility time to UCU and 2,074.2 hours to UNISON, a total of 6,335 hours. Both unions have branches on campus, are invited to meet new colleagues at staff induction days, and members can request representation and support from trained union representatives and full-time officials, as well as expert legal advice, in support of their labour rights.
