LECTURERS at Sheffield Hallam University walked out on strike for 48 hours today over withheld pay.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) said management had refused to honour a 2.7 per cent national pay increase in August last year.

The award was implemented this month after lecturers voted to strike. UCU said the delay cost lecturers £100 a month for seven months.

The union said the university is spending £220 million on campus expansion and a satellite campus in London.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “We refuse to accept that Hallam can invest hundreds of millions of pounds in shiny new buildings yet can’t afford to meet the nationally agreed pay award, as every other university in Yorkshire was able to.”

A Sheffield Hallam University spokesperson said: “With the overall financial picture for universities likely to be challenging for some time, we must continue to make the difficult choices required to reduce costs and increase income, in order to emerge in a stronger, sustainable position for the future.”