Pay the right amount

Our basic monthly subscription rates are listed on the Why join? page. We want to make sure that all our members pay the correct amount for their membership – we don’t want to overcharge you – so this page contains more information about ensuring you only pay the right amount.

There are a range of factors that might reduce your UCU subscriptions:

Any changes you need to make to your subscription amount can be done online via MyUCU. You can also get a personalised membership quote from the UCU national website (you’ll have to log out of MyUCU for this to work).

Please feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions about the amount you’re paying.

Tax relief on subscriptions

UCU is an approved professional body, which means you can claim tax relief from the government on 67% of your UCU subscription. The amount this will save depends on the rate of tax you pay. This can be done either online via Government Gateway, or by posting a form. You can backdate claims up to four years.

See UCU’s tax relief page and the government tax website for details about this.

Rates for part-time/hourly staff

Subscription rates depend on your income in the sectors UCU represents, not your contract type or the amount of hours you work. 

If you have recently gone part-time or reduced your FTE, resulting in a reduced salary, you need to update your details to ensure you are paying the correct,  lower rate of subscriptions. 

See UCU’s page about rates for part-time and hourly-paid staff for more information on this.

Income from other work

Your UCU subscription rate is only calculated based on your income from work in the Further/Higher Education sector. 

If you have another job (not at an FE/HE institution) or other sources of income, you don’t need to count these as income for the purposes of calculating your UCU subscriptions.

If you work at another UCU branch and are a member there too, one subscription will cover you for both branches. Simply add up your income from all the institutions you’re a UCU member at when calculating your subscriptions. 

For example, imagine you earn £10k working for the OU, £10k working for an FE college, and £10k working directly for the government. Your single UCU subscription should be based on £20k income (and you should seek out a second trade union for the government job).

Please update the MyUCU ‘employment’ tab with all the branches you work at, so we know you’re an OU member.

Parental, sabbatical, sickness or unpaid leave

You don’t need to pay your UCU subscriptions while you’re on parental leave, or unpaid leave (including a sabbatical).

You can pause your subscriptions in MyUCU by going to the Membership tab and clicking “Change or Cancel My Membership”, then selecting the relevant type of leave (e.g. “Parental leave”).

If you are on statutory sick pay you also don’t need to pay UCU subscriptions. Please email us at [email protected] to make sure you don’t overpay when you’re on long-term sick leave.

If you’re in another union

If you’re in another union, UCU may have a joint membership arrangement that allows you to pay a reduced rate to one or both of the unions.

See UCU’s joint memberships page for more information about this.

Postgraduate students/researchers

There are three types of membership for postgraduate students and researchers: each is either free or capped at the lowest subscription rate.

If you’re a postgraduate student or postgraduate researcher, please see the page about postgraduate memberships on the UCU national website.

Retired, unemployed and precariously employed members

If you are precariously employed and expect to make less than £5000 in a year, you can join at the lowest subscription rate. 

Retired members pay a heavily discounted rate too.

If you’re unemployed but looking for work in the FE/HE sectors, you can keep your UCU membership for free by moving to an unemployed membership.

Members without a current employment are welcome to remain members of the OU branch. However, retired members can transfer to a regional Retired Members Branch, which focuses on issues affecting retired members. There is also a ‘central’ structure supporting members who are unemployed or employed at institutions without a branch. See the UCU retired, unemployed and precariously employed members pages for information about this.

Political fund and Education Support donation

UCU operates a political fund which expressly does not contribute to any political party, but is used for campaigning and lobbying to promote the interests of UCU members. The contribution to the political fund is 1% of your subscription.

UCU members are also encouraged to donate to the Education Support Partnership. The partnership provide counselling sessions to education staff in distress. The Education Support Partnership is the only independent charity providing emotional, financial and practical support to staff in both FE and HE. This donation is £2 per month.

Both the political fund contribution and the Education Support donation are voluntary. Your union membership benefits are the same whether you contribute or not. If you want to opt-out of either of them, you can do so on the Payment tab in MyUCU.