updated July 2006
The guidelines for minimum conditions of employment were updated this year. Click below for the actual document approved by the RIBA. The agreed values are £7.54 per hour (£9.05 per hour in London), which is about £ 13,570.00 p.a nationwide, £ 16,290.00 p.a in London. This is a MINIMUM figure. If you know someone getting paid less than this, contact archaos. This is based on a standard employment of 37.5 hours a week, 48 weeks per year.
The Beginning of the search for fair conditions of employment for part 1 employees began in 1999 as a direct result of a paper written by the RIBA Council Student Representatives for the RIBA. The paper was written following extensive research into the financial predicament of students of architecture and the conditions of employment that part 1 employees faced in their year out.
The Fact 12% of respondents faced a level of remuneration below the minimum wage. The RIBA Council Student Representatives formed archaos and held a highly publicised conference at RIBA HQ with student representation from every school of architecture in the country.
The consensus was strong and the belief was that minimum conditions of employment for part 1 employees must be in place to prevent the exploitation of young professionals and establish the minimum acceptable standards within the profession.
The Support came from many and varied sources. The letters column in Building Design magazine and senior figures at the RIBA provided a strong source of support as did the PSA's (Practical Studies Advisors) at the Glasgow 2000 conference following archaos' keynote speech.
The Action came in the form of a short paper proposing minimum conditions of employment. The paper was supported by the RIBA Education Committee, and approved by RIBA Practice Committee and Policy Management Board.
The paper failed to go through RIBA Council, councillors were concerned about the legal implication of pitching a level of remuneration above the legal minimum.
A Working Party consisting of Robert Adam, Claire Frankl, Dermot Hanna and Nick Hayhurst was established to work closely with the RIBA Practice Department to develop a proposal for RIBA Council in October. The group met in late August to address the issue. The result of the meeting was the birth of the RIBA Indicative Minimum rates of pay for Part 1 employees. The group also agreed that preparation of good practice guidance notes for both practice and students was imperative.
The RIBA/archaos recommended minimum wage had not risen since its introduction, despite rises in average earnings and the national minimum wage. Therefore archaos proposed the raise of the recommended minimum wage to the figures above in 2006 and the yearly review of these figures to keeep them in line with rises in average earnings. This was proposal was passed by the RIBA in 2006.