FOI2026/00590: UKRI 2022 Pay Offer
Case reference FOI2026/00590
Received 14 July 2026
Published 24 September 2026
Request
Request Received: 14 July 2026
UKRI’s 2022 pay offer introduced targeted pay increases for certain roles, effective from 1 July 2022. This split the workforce into STEM1 (S1), STEM2 (S1) and 'main' pay scales.
Requests:
1. Please supply the evidence of acute recruitment and retention (R&R) issues for S1 and S2 roles that was used to justify the targeted pay increases, including the period over which this evidence was obtained and the period it covers.
2. Please disclose if similar R&R issues were investigated for staff on main pay scales, and confirm if it covers the same time periods as that for S1 and S2. If not, please confirm the periods it covers.
3. Please supply the external salary benchmarking data that was used to inform the pay scales of S1, S2. Please disclose what markets or sectors these data are from, if not clear from the data. Please disclose when this benchmarking data was received by UKRI.
4. Please disclose if similar external benchmarking data was obtained for main pay scale roles. If this was obtained, please supply the data.
Response
Response Sent: 24 September 2026
Full details of this response are available in the attached documents.
Documents
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