ARPS at Congress 2026
This year the ARPS committee have submitted four motions and three amendments to Congress and we’d really appreciate your support in delivering for our ARPS members. As usual, there is only so much that can be conveyed in the limited word count available so here’s a summary and rationale of our submissions for Congress 2026.
The latest information for Congress 2026 can be found by selecting here. The motions and amendments below have been ordered in the sequence they are expected to be taken across the three days of Congress.
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Motion 38 – Fighting for professional respect and against generalisation of ARPS jobs
Expected to be taken on Wednesday 27th May
This motion seeks to deliver proper recognition and professional respect for the varied specialisms and expertise that ARPS staff bring to our institutions. Increasingly, employers are moving to make roles, titles, and job descriptions generic which devalues the contribution of ARPS staff and will de-skill and devalue the future of ARPS careers.
A number of professional organisations already work well in this space and we believe it is important for UCU to support and encourage professional registration to maintain high standards for staff and students, and to protect high-quality jobs.
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Motion HE18 – Meaningful career pathways and pay progression for ARPS staff
Expected to be taken on Thursday 28th May
Career progression is possibly the largest disparity between UCU’s academic and non-academic members. Where academic staff often have defined and expected promotion pathways, ARPS staff deal with a system based on vacancies only, which does not recognise the personal progression, development, and value they provide to their institutions as they gain experience.
This motion seeks to call on UCEA to formally engage with the recognised unions on this issue and to deliver consistent and transparent opportunities to ARPS staff which will reestablish high quality and sustainable professional careers.
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Amendment HE21A.2 – For a serious political campaign to defend HE
Expected to be taken on Thursday 28th May
This friendly amendment seeks to include the valuable work of the Future of Work in Post-16 Education project into the scope of this motion, which in turn seeks to defend both academic and ARPS jobs for the long term.
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Motion 67 – Model local branch rules – ARPS representative
Expected to be taken on Friday 29th May
This motion seeks to update the rules to include an ARPS representative into the model. The committee believes that this is an important step that will recognise the unique experience of ARPS staff and provide better opportunities for solidarity between all members, both academic, and non-academic.
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Amendment 70A.1 – Campaign against use of ‘open-ended’ contracts with review date University of Edinburgh
Expected to be taken on Friday 29th May
This friendly amendment seeks to recognise the effect of this concerning trend within the ARPS staff community as well and to highlight the need for more creative approaches to protect and promote permanent employment.
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Amendment 71A.1 – Opposing subcos and casualisation
Expected to be taken on Friday 29th May
This friendly amendment seeks to clarify that UCU rejects the use of subsidiary companies for all workers in education where they diminish pay, condition and representation. The ARPS committee believe this is a key fight to engage in as ARPS staff are usually the first staff to be forced into subsidiary companies but, as we are increasingly seeing, are often not the last.
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Motion 77 – Bargaining and negotiation support for branches
Expected to be taken on Friday 29th May
This motion seeks to provide better tools to our branch reps through a centrally maintained and updated resource with a particular interest in alleviating the workload placed on reps, as well as reps that represent members who are on the fringes of bargaining units.
A key element to this work is the continuous need for updates which are clearly signposted for branches to access. We’d also expect to see sufficient for resource for branches outside of national bargaining structures, especially as national bargaining often has a bearing on local negotiations in these branches.
