UK to raise minimum stipend for PhD students from October 2026

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced an increase in the minimum stipend for PhD students for the next academic year, offering another above-inflation rise from October 1. The move will raise the minimum annual stipend to £21,805, up from £20,780, benefiting thousands of doctoral candidates across the UK.

For PhD students based in London, the minimum stipend will increase from £22,780 to £23,805, a rise of 4.5%. UKRI said the uplift is part of its continued effort to improve financial support for doctoral researchers.

Alongside stipends, the national research funder has also raised the minimum fee it pays universities per UKRI-funded student. The fee will increase by 4.6%, from £5,006 to £5,238.


The decision follows pressure from student groups, particularly in London, Times Higher Education reported. Late last year, students’ unions in the capital called for a £2,500 increase in stipends, warning that without higher support, doctoral study risked becoming “accessible only to the most privileged”.

UKRI had already delivered a major rise last year, increasing the tax-free stipend by 8% in real terms. At the time, the funder said the move aimed to bring PhD take-home pay closer to the national living wage.

In addition to financial changes, UKRI last year announced reforms to student welfare policies. These included allowing up to 28 weeks of medical leave, designed to make it easier for students to extend their studies when needed and to reduce barriers for disabled doctoral researchers.

The issue of access to PhD education has also been flagged by the UK government. According to THE report, in its skills White Paper published last year, the government said it would review access to doctoral study, noting that financial barriers to postdoctoral education remain “still too high” for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. The paper also pointed to a decline in the proportion of UK-based PhD students and said the government would “explore the challenges that lead to disparities in access to PhD programmes and the declining proportion of UK doctoral student applicants in some fields”.