Lauren Sandford, Research Strategy Information Manager at Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and outgoing Chair of the ARPS Committee 2025/26 presented the following Chair’s Report at the AGM on 26 February.
Academic-Related and Professional Services Staff (ARPS) National Annual Meeting – Thursday 26 February 2026
Chair’s Report
Departure of ARPS Secretary
The Committee extends its thanks and recognition for former committee secretary, Jenny Lennox, who is sadly no longer with UCU. Jenny really shared our values as trade unionists, so she understood exactly what we are trying to achieve within the ARPS Committee. Her knowledge of UCU was invaluable in our functioning, advising the best way to action our agenda and keeping on top of basically everything logistical for us – an invaluable colleague and comrade.
Annual Meeting 2025
Last year’s meeting continued our trend of holding hybrid meetings, which we think has been working very well for us. We had members online and in person at Carlow Street.
There were a number of motions brought to the meeting which are reported on below.
Motion 1, ARPS members deserve career progression was submitted HESC 2025 as HEC28 and was passed and then to Congress as HE28 and passed. This motion covered career progression pathways, guidance and training for branches on pursuing pay/progression/promotion parity, and guidance on appropriate union membership for ARPS staff. This has been followed up by one of the motions presented to Annual Meeting 2026. The motion also covered career progression pathways as part of the JNCHES negotiations, which is picked up under the heading “Joint Union Pay Claim” below.
Motion 2, Updating UCU model rules and standing orders, and roles guidance was submitted to Congress 2025 and was passed, however we are yet to see those changes in the live documents so follow up on that has been added to the Committee Workplan.
Update on previously submitted motions
ARPS Annual Meeting submitted a motion in 2022 on inclusion of ARPS in HESA data collection. Two consultations from HESA have taken place; UCU initially responded welcoming the idea of making the collection of “non-academic staff” mandatory. In early 2025 – but after last year’s ARPS AGM – a second consultation from HESA went out and UCU’s submission included support for their proposal on non-academic staff data collection.
ARPS Annual Meeting submitted a motion in 2024 on professionalisation of services, including representation of relevant professional bodies at the next Congress. They were approached to hold stalls at Congress 2025. An update is needed on how that went and whether they are being invited to Congress 2026.
Workplan
Progress on the workplan has not been furthered as much as anticipated, due in large part to personal circumstances experienced by the committee Chairs over the last year.
We held an ARPS Open Meeting on the 9th May which was well attended; we heard about action in local branches including Durham and circulated guidance on ASOS for ARPS staff.
There have been a few questions over the year come in through the ARPS mailing list, though it is underutilised overall.
This Chair proposes to the forthcoming committee that work be prioritised to pick up communication with the Anti-Casualisation Committee to learn from their campaigns and successes, to complement the work raised through the pay claim and our motions this year on the issue of Downgrading and Casualisation of ARPS staff, including the production of materials to support local action.
The website is live but has not been updated as often as necessary; the next steps are for a social media protocol for the likes of Bluesky, and a coordinated strategy for posting material and resources. We would welcome guest blog posts when that gets up and running again.
Committee will be meeting following this AGM to review and update the workplan for 2026/7.
Joint Union Pay Claim 2026/27
In December 2025 the Committee was invited to contribute to the Joint Union Pay Claim. In the previous year’s claim, the ARPS ask was to work with UCEA on meaningful career pathways – however it was not included in the final claim as Unison had requested more time to consider. The Committee therefore submitted an ask for inclusion in this year’s claim expanding on that and reflecting the sentiment of the ARPS members garnered over the last couple of years, and put forward the statement:
UCEA to work with the unions to develop meaningful and inclusive career pathways for academic-related, professional services staff. These discussions would include career progression, career pathways, and grade drifts for academic-related professional services staff.
The AGM will receive an update on the pay claim under point 4 of the agenda “Pay Claim overview”.
Stepping Down
This Chair, Lauren Sandford, has been active on the ARPS Committee for four years, and as per standing rules is ineligible for renomination for year 2026/27. I hope that this will not be the end of my time working with the ARPS Committee and intend to seek renomination for 2027/28.
Lauren Sandford, Co-Chair, ARPS Committee
February 2026