The UKRI minimum doctoral stipend rises to £21,805 from 1 October 2026, up from £20,780 for 2025 to September 2026. Where a London weighting applies, the figures are £23,805 and £22,780 respectively. The minimum fee for academic year 2026 to 2027 is £5,238.
Those are the published minimums for studentships funded through UKRI training grants. What follows sets out what they cover, what they do not, and the one figure everybody quotes that UKRI does not actually publish.
The figures
| Item | 2025 to September 2026 | From 1 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum stipend (full-time) | £20,780 | £21,805 |
| Stipend with London weighting | £22,780 | £23,805 |
| Minimum fee | — | £5,238 (academic year 2026 to 2027) |
Source: UK Research and Innovation, support for UKRI-funded students, page last updated 11 August 2026.
Four qualifications matter, and each one changes what an individual researcher actually receives.
These are minimums, not standard rates. UKRI notes that grant holders may offer higher stipends within their budget regardless of location. Some disciplines and doctoral training entities pay above the floor.
The London weighting is not universal. UKRI states explicitly that the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council does not offer a London weighting. If you are applying to an EPSRC-funded studentship in London, do not budget for it.
Part-time awards are pro-rated. The figures above are for full-time students; part-time students receive a proportionate amount.
The fee is not paid to you. The minimum fee is drawn by your research organisation from the UKRI grant. UKRI contributes only up to the value of home fee rates, so international students may need to make a contribution towards their fees depending on the arrangement.
The figure UKRI does not publish
Ask how long a UKRI studentship lasts and you will be told 3.5 years or 4 years with great confidence. UKRI publishes no sector-wide duration.
Its training grant terms and conditions devolve the decision, stating that research organisations can decide the duration of a studentship provided this accords with the awarding council’s specifications, and its guidance repeats that duration must fall within any parameters specified by the awarding council. There is no single UKRI-wide number to cite.
The practical consequence: the only authoritative source for your funded period is the advert and your offer letter. This matters more than it sounds, because your funded period is what your writing-up timeline has to fit inside — and UKRI’s guidance sets the expectation that research organisations support students to complete their doctoral training, including submission of the thesis, within their funded period.
What else a UKRI studentship includes
Beyond stipend and fees, UKRI’s published terms set out entitlements that candidates frequently do not know they have:
- Sick leave, with the stipend continuing during periods of illness.
- Family leave, including where you or your partner is pregnant or you are adopting.
- Additional leave, for example for bereavement or jury service.
- A phased return to study after a period of leave, on your normal stipend, with the non-studying time taken as leave.
- Changes of mode between full-time and part-time, which you can request at any time; UKRI does not limit how many times you can request one.
UKRI is also explicit about what your provider cannot do: it cannot ask you to do work that is not part of your studentship in return for your stipend, use training grant funds to employ you, make you do extra work even if paid separately, or charge additional tuition fees during your funded period beyond some international fees.
Those provisions are worth reading in full if you are being asked to take on teaching or lab duties in a way that feels like a condition of your funding rather than a paid opportunity.
If your funding is not from UKRI
A substantial share of UK doctoral researchers are funded by something other than a research council training grant, and none of the figures above bind those routes. University-funded studentships, charity and trust funding, industry-sponsored projects, overseas government scholarships and self-funding each set their own terms.
Some of these match or exceed UKRI rates deliberately, because departments benchmark against them to compete for candidates. Others do not, and there is no floor. The questions worth asking of any non-UKRI offer are the same ones UKRI answers in published form: what is the stipend, is it index-linked or fixed for the duration, what is the funded period, what happens to leave entitlements, and is there a research training support grant for fieldwork and conference travel.
Get the answers in writing before accepting. An offer that is generous on headline stipend but silent on sick leave and overrun is not obviously better than one paying the UKRI minimum with published terms behind it.
The part the figures do not capture
A stipend is paid tax-free, which makes direct comparison with an advertised graduate salary misleading in your favour. Against that, it is not a salary: it does not build pension entitlement, and it is fixed while your costs are not.
The sector’s own survey data indicates this bites. Advance HE’s Postgraduate Research Experience Survey 2025, which gathered 35,475 responses from 93 institutions, found that among researchers who had considered leaving their programme, 14% cited financial difficulties — behind mental or emotional health at 20%, and ahead of balancing research with other commitments at 13%.
Two honest caveats on that survey, since this article is about being precise with numbers: PRES 2025 included four Australian institutions, so it is not a pure UK snapshot, and it publishes absolute response counts rather than a response rate.
How many doctoral researchers are there in the UK?
HESA — now part of Jisc — published Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2024/25 on 27 January 2026. It records 121,175 postgraduate research enrolments, comprising 110,455 at doctorate research level, 10,635 at other postgraduate research level and 85 studying institutional credit.
| Academic year | Total PGR enrolments |
|---|---|
| 2020/21 | 114,405 |
| 2021/22 | 113,310 |
| 2022/23 | 123,660 |
| 2023/24 | 119,015 |
| 2024/25 | 121,175 |
Source: HESA (part of Jisc), Higher Education Student Statistics: UK, 2024/25, released 27 January 2026.
The bulletin also reports that 55% of postgraduate research students were female in 2024/25, a share it notes has increased annually since 2019/20.
One correction worth making, because the error is widespread. You will see it stated that 65% of UK doctoral researchers are international. The published 65% figure refers to full-time postgraduate students from non-EU countries — taught and research combined. The bulletin does not break domicile down to postgraduate research level, so there is no published figure for the international share of PGR specifically. Do not repeat the 65% as a doctoral statistic.
What to check before you accept an offer
- The stipend amount and whether it exceeds the minimum. Some awards do.
- Whether a London weighting applies — remembering the EPSRC exception.
- The funded duration, from the advert and offer letter, since no national figure exists.
- What happens if you overrun. An unfunded writing-up period is a common and under-discussed part of the UK doctorate.
- Whether a research training support grant is included for fieldwork, conferences and equipment, and how much.
- For international applicants, the fee position, since UKRI contributes only up to home fee rates.
The funded duration is the one that shapes everything else, because it determines how much time your plan can allocate to writing up. That timeline is assessed at application stage — our guide to writing a PhD research proposal covers how panels read it — and again at your upgrade or confirmation review. Build the correction period into it too: as our data on UK viva outcomes shows, two-thirds of institutions allow up to three months for minor corrections, and that time is not optional.
If the deadline is real and the writing is what stands between you and submission, you can draft your chapters in Tesify from your own research — 100% written by you.
Frequently asked questions
How much do PhD students get paid in the UK?
Where funding comes through a UKRI training grant, at least £21,805 from 1 October 2026, or £23,805 where a London weighting applies. Non-UKRI studentships set their own rates, and self-funded researchers receive no stipend at all.
Is a PhD stipend taxable?
Doctoral stipends are paid as tax-free maintenance rather than as salary, which is why the headline figure compares more favourably with a taxed salary than it first appears. Check your offer documentation for the specific arrangement.
Does every London-based studentship pay a London weighting?
No. UKRI states that the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council does not offer one. Confirm from the advert rather than assuming it applies.
How long is a UKRI-funded PhD?
There is no single published answer. UKRI devolves duration to research organisations within the awarding council’s specifications, so your advert and offer letter are the only authoritative sources.
What happens if I do not submit within my funded period?
You generally continue without a stipend, often described as a writing-up period, and institutional rules govern registration status and fees. UKRI’s guidance sets the expectation that providers support submission within the funded period, so plan your timeline against it from the start.
Can I work alongside a funded PhD?
Institutional and funder rules vary, and visa conditions may restrict international researchers further. Note that UKRI states your provider cannot require unpaid work outside your studentship in return for your stipend — paid teaching offered as a genuine opportunity is a different matter.
Do I keep my stipend during sick or family leave?
Under UKRI terms, yes — the stipend continues during periods of leave, and you can request a phased return afterwards. Discuss the process with your provider before taking leave.
How many people are doing a PhD in the UK?
HESA recorded 121,175 postgraduate research enrolments in 2024/25, of which 110,455 were at doctorate research level.
Is the stipend the same across all research councils?
The minimum is common across UKRI, but councils and individual training entities may pay above it, and the London weighting is not offered by every council. Two studentships advertised in the same city in the same year can legitimately differ.
Does the stipend increase during my PhD?
UKRI sets the minimum annually, and providers normally apply the new minimum to continuing students from the date it takes effect. That is why the table above shows two figures — an award that began under the 2025 rate moves to the higher rate from 1 October 2026.