University had paid some postgraduate researchers less than minimum wage
One of England’s most prestigious universities has been forced to increase the pay of some of its PhD students after it was found to have paid them an annual sum that effectively meant they were getting below the national minimum wage.
Durham University’s trade union branch said it was shocked to discover last September that PhD students teaching on the institution’s popular law course were being paid 15,000 a year. The University and College Union (UCU) said that this would make them among the lowest paid in the sector.
This annual amount covered the expected 1,880 hours of research for their PhD, as well as 80 hours of teaching on the degree course, amounting to 7.98 an hour before tax. This is below the national minimum wage of 9.50 for people aged 23 and over.
The union said the university’s announcement this week that it will increase funding for law PhD students by 5,000 a year, following lobbying from the local Labour MP and academics, was a “huge win”.
“It is absolutely shameful that a university as wealthy as Durham thought it was acceptable to pay PhD researchers less than the legal minimum wage,” said Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU. “Law PhD students told us they were taking on many jobs to get by and really struggling to manage everything.”
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