After substantial discussion, NUJ Chapel members have overwhelmingly voted to reject the latest pay offer from the Company. The ballot closed on Wednesday July 29, with a turnout of 92% (97/106) members). 78% of members rejected the first version of the offer and 87% rejected the second (the offer differed slightly in terms of the structure of the second year amount). Members felt that the incremental increase in the offer compared with previous offers, coupled with a small second year offer, did not sufficiently reflect their value, expertise, and commitment as dedicated employees of The Lancet Group, the increasing workloads faced, and consistent erosion of real-terms pay over the past decade.
The Chapel have now given notice to the Company for a postal ballot for industrial action since an acceptable offer was not reached by the end of the three-stage dispute process. This ballot will run for 4 weeks over August. The Chapel will have a mandate for industrial action for 12 months if at least 50% of members vote yes to industrial action and if the turnout is 50% or more. The result will be announced after the vote closes around the beginning of September.
If you are a non-NUJ member in the Bargaining Unit who would like to be kept up to date on developments, please register here: https://forms.gle/vYCZnzuoBwfQS6wP9
The NUJ have advised all members to opt back into the Working Time Directive (which states that by law workers must not work more than 48 hours in a week on average), which the Company employment contracts automatically opts staff out of.
HR have said this must be done by creating a ticket in myHR. In response to the ticket they will share a form for you to fill out and add your signature (a photo is fine). Once you have returned this form, HR will inform your manager as an FYI and action your request to opt back into the WTD.
Non-NUJ members in the bargaining unit; we encourage you to also consider opting back in to the WTD.
Following two meetings at the second stage of the dispute avoidance process, the Company presented a second formal pay offer to the NUJ Chapel.
The NUJ Chapel members discussed the offer during a meeting on the 8th June and voted whether to accept or reject the offer in an online ballot open for 10 days. The turnout was 87% of members and 92% voted to reject the offer.
We are now progressing to Stage 3 of the dispute avoidance process: a meeting mediated by ACAS with the General Secretary of the NUJ and a senior manager from the Company. We are hoping to hold this meeting in July and will confirm once a date is set.
Following the rejection of the Elsevier pay offer by NUJ members, representatives from the NUJ Lancet Chapel, the Lancet Leadership Team, and Elsevier HR met for the Stage One meeting of the dispute process on Tuesday May 5.
During the meeting we stressed that members have been extremely clear that they will only accept a deal that both meets this year's RPI and begins to repair the real-terms losses sustained in previous years. Unfortunately the new offer the company brought to the table was significantly beneath that bar, and would have tied us into a 2-year pay deal with an unacceptably low increase for 2027. The Committee felt very confident members would reject the offer and therefore did not bring it to the Chapel for discussion and a vote, which would have delayed negotiations.
Our pay ask of 7.5% or £3.3k (whichever is higher) remains a pragmatic and proportionate claim, especially in light of current high inflation. Our claim is developed to address colleagues’ dissatisfaction with low pay and pay erosion without outsized impact on finances and company stability.
We will therefore be progressing to the second stage of the dispute process where meetings are attended by a full-time NUJ officer and an additional senior manager from the Company to try to reach an agreement.
After several weeks of negotiation meetings, Elsevier made a formal pay offer to the NUJ Chapel as follows:
Base pay increase for all colleagues (excluding new hires after Oct 1, 2025) linked to performance OR an underpin of £1,300 to base pay (whichever is higher), back-dated to March 1, 2026.
Requires improvement: 0%
Successful performance: 2.3%
Very Strong performance: 2.7%
Outstanding performance: 3.7%
Plus introduce IIP for those individuals who had received communications about it in Sept 2025, back-dated to Oct 1, 2025.
The Chapel discussed the offer in a meeting for members on Thurs 16 April and voted whether to accept or reject the offer. The turnout was 87% and 99% voted to reject it. This vote result activates the dispute process, the first stage of which is an additional negotiation meeting with reps from the Chapel and the company by Thursday 7th May. Later meetings will bring in more people from the NUJ and Elsevier to try to reach an agreement.
Although members have resoundingly rejected the pay offer, the Chapel’s position remains that the September 2025 ICR IIP enrolments previously promised to individuals should be honoured from a budget distinct from the 2026 pay increases. The union previously approved the IIP changes before negotiations began and have stated to the Company that from our point of view these can be paid at any time. The decision to withhold or delay the promised IIP payments sits with the Company alone.
On 3 March, elected members of The Lancet NUJ Committee, representing NUJ members at The Lancet, presented representatives for The Lancet Leadership Team and Elsevier HR with our 2026 pay claim. This pay claim was wholly developed and ratified by NUJ members at The Lancet.
We believe this is the first time in the very long history of The Lancet that staff have collectively entered formal pay negotiations with management.
We will update the Bargaining Unit of significant developments during the pay negotiations.
Want to receive more detailed updates about how negotiations are progressing this year, vote on any upcoming major decisions and take part in setting our pay claim next year? Join the NUJ.
Our 2026 pay claim: an increase of 7.5% or £3,300 (whichever is higher) for all staff in the Bargaining Unit and the budgeted October 2025 ICR IIP enrolments to be paid, as previously requested by Chapel members. We also raised additional issues that have been identified as priorities by members.
During the Chapel meeting on 20 January, NUJ members agreed to not incorporate the Individual Incentive Plan (IIP) bonus in pay negotiations this year, proposing that they be paid as usual in March. The Committee informed Elsevier of this request and specified this included the individuals who were previously told they were to be enrolled on the scheme during the September 2025 ICR.
Elsevier agreed to pay the IIP in March for those currently enrolled on the scheme, but chose to bring the September 2025 ICR enrolments into the annual pay negotiations. Therefore, the Chapel added these proposed enrolments to the 2026 pay claim, with the stance that these should be considered separately to the requested pay increase.
If you are impacted by this and have any questions, please contact a Committee member or our gmail.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting those working in media and publishing industries—not just journalists. They represent employees in a workplace, and act on their behalf to work with employers to improve workplace pay and conditions.
The Lancet NUJ Chapel is the collective body of NUJ members at The Lancet Group.
Anyone can join the NUJ and become a member of the Lancet NUJ Chapel. The Chapel represents the interests of all UK-based Elsevier employees (not just NUJ members) operating within The Lancet Group (excluding the Lancet Leadership Team and the Executive Assistant). This is known as the Bargaining Unit.
Since September, 2025, Elsevier has been required to recognise the Lancet NUJ Chapel as representing the Bargaining Unit on the core topics of pay, holiday, and working hours. Any changes to pay and conditions negotiated by the NUJ Chapel apply to all colleagues with the Bargaining Unit. At the same time, Elsevier also recognised a separate Chapel of UK colleagues at Cell Press.
Staff in unionised workplaces in the UK are better paid, happier, and more satisfied than non-unionised workplaces. Join the NUJ today and have your say.
This website is maintained by the Committee of the Lancet NUJ Chapel, independent of The Lancet Leadership Team and Elsevier.
Rep = An annually elected member of the Committee. Reps are Lancet staff who are NUJ members.