UCL has launched its People Plan 2025-2028, setting out how the university will improve staff experience, support career development and create the conditions for everyone to do their best work.
The People Plan 2025/6-2027/28 is grounded in UCL’s Strategic Plan and shaped by staff. The plan responds directly to what you have told us matters most through workshops, meetings, leadership discussions and the 2024 Staff Experience Survey.
At its core, the People Plan is about improving staff experience. It brings together our existing commitments and sets out new priorities in a clear framework for action over the next three years, organised around four themes:
- Ensure a supportive and inclusive environment.
- Reward talent and create opportunities for people to develop their careers.
- Build an adaptable workforce and a well-connected community.
- Make it easier to complete HR tasks and improve services.
For each theme we have reflected on staff feedback and set out:
- our aims for making improvements in these areas,
- the actions we’ll take toward achieving these aims and when key initiatives will be delivered,
- and how we will know we’ve made the changes needed to support UCL now and in the future.
Grounded in our values and a shared commitment to respectful behaviour, inclusion and high standards, the plan clarifies what staff can expect from UCL, and what we ask of one another in return.
Read the UCL People Plan 2025/6-2027/28
About the UCL People Plan 2025/6-2027/28
We are committed to talking openly as a community about opportunities, concerns, areas for improvement, and our progress in the areas that really matter. And while we have heard that many colleagues value their work and teams, we also understand there are persistent challenges that affect day-to-day experience.
The People Plan sets out how UCL will address these challenges - such as workload pressures, complex processes, inconsistent management experiences and concerns about wellbeing, inclusion and fairness - in a coordinated and transparent way.
While meaningful progress is expected within this timeframe, the plan recognises that deeper cultural change takes sustained effort. A formal review in 2027/28 will assess impact and inform the next phase of work, aligned with UCL’s future institutional strategy.
Progress so far and what to expect next
As well as setting out new priorities, the plan builds on a range of existing commitments that we are continuing to work on. Last term, we made progress against the People Plan Roadmap including:
Delivering enhancements to Report + Support following an in-depth review of the platform - read more about the improvements in August.
Delivering and mandating E6 sexual harassment training across the university, with mandatory training to be completed by all staff by 31 January 2026 - read more about the training.
Transitioning to a new Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) provider to enhance staff wellbeing services at UCL - read more about the new provider.
Developing and launching an online learning module designed to equip staff with pastoral responsibilities with greater clarity, guidance, and practical tools to help them respond effectively to students with wellbeing concerns - read more about the new training.
Reviewing the HR Business Partner role and remodelling to introduce the HR People Partnering Team, with the goal of helping to create a thriving, inclusive workplace, where people and organisational goals work in harmony - read more about People Partnering at UCL.
In December, UCL’s University Management Committee (UMC) approved in principle a series of proposals to take our Pay and Reward Strategy into its next phase. These proposals are now subject to formal discussions with our recognised trade union colleagues. Read more about the proposals.
And next week, we will be launching the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategic Plan 2025-2030 setting out a clear institutional direction and strengthened approach to delivering meaningful, sustainable progress in equality and inclusion.
Our priorities: four themes for action
Through
To do this we will strengthen our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion through:
- publishing and implementing a new EDI Strategic Plan,
- and improving governance for EDI.
We will also be focussing on wellbeing, accessibility, reporting and support mechanisms, and making disciplinary processes clearer, fairer and more proportionate.
We’re working to ensure UCL is a place where there are opportunities to build an exceptional career and to make a difference.
The plan commits to clearer and fairer career pathways, improved recognition and better support for development across academic, research, technical and professional services roles.
Improvements in this area include:
- strengthening appraisal and career conversations and investing in development opportunities for line managers,
- improving the experience of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) by creating clearer development routes and opportunities and enhancing mentoring schemes,
- and developing stronger succession planning and internal talent pipelines.
- simplifying and standardising HR processes such as onboarding and recruitment,
- improving our digital platforms and building better data and reporting tools,
- and strengthening service delivery.
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clarifying and improving career pathways for professional services staff and providing better guidance on progression routes,
We want staff to feel part of a community where collaboration and innovation flourish, and to feel confident in responding and adapting to change.
Our priorities in this area include:
strengthening support for teaching-focused and clinical academic roles by building on The Teaching Concordat and completing the Clinical Service Improvement Programme
continuing delivery of the Technician Commitment and working to embed these commitments into our institutional structures,
Our work in this area is focussed on putting the end user at the heart of our HR services. Feedback shows that many of our people processes feel overly complex and time-consuming.
Our plan to ensuring that people across UCL feel supported includes:
This work aims to reduce administrative burden, improve consistency and free up time for staff to focus on what matters most in their roles.
