CIfA minimum salaries from April 2023

At its meeting on 8 November, CIfA’s Board of Directors agreed the recommended minimum salary levels for archaeologists in the UK[1] from April 2023. In making its decision this year, the Board considered

• a paper commissioned from CIfA staff collating general pay and inflation data to October as well as sector specific information from the most recent State of the Market for Archaeological Services survey, BAJR and other UK sources
• Advice from CIfA’s Advisory Council which met in October to discuss the BAJR Poverty Impact Report and CIfA minimum salary recommendations
• the impact the current cost of living crisis is having on archaeologists and archaeological organisations, including the need to continue to recruit and retain sufficient skilled archaeologists to meet demand
• CIfA’s strategy to ‘Shape and promote archaeology as an attractive, rewarding and worthwhile career with parity of esteem with other professions’ to meet our objective that by 2030 ‘a larger, more diverse and inclusive profession will offer a wider range of expertise and better reflect its relevance to society’

Based on the above, the Board agreed that the 2023-24 recommended minimum salaries should increase in line with the current rate of inflation to

	PCIfA	ACIfA	MCIfA
1 April 2023	£23,231	£27,085	£34,792

CIfA’s policy statement on pay highlights the impact of low pay on professional standards and on the ability of archaeological organisations to recruit, retain and motivate appropriately skilled staff. It also emphasises the need for organisations to work together to address the issues. The Board is committed to working towards a sector-wide solution to the issue of low pay in archaeology in consultation with Prospect and with archaeological employers.

As well as issuing minimum salary recommendations as a benchmark for members and Registered Organisations, CIfA strongly encourages its members and partners to identify and make use of other available mechanisms, including workforce agreements and/or collective bargaining.

CIfA recognises the current difficulties experienced by both archaeologists and those organisations that employ them, and continues to look for ways to support the profession in line with our strategy and values.