Letter (2):PRP and PhD ironies

As someone who has enjoyed the benefits of performance-related pay for more than ten years, I was amused to read in your editorial ( THES , September 21) that PRP in academia might help address the problem of low-paid academics.

Given that already tolerably well-paid senior staff members will determine the performance of colleagues on which any rise will be based, my experience suggests that most will be no better off, while a minority will be rather worse off. No one will really understand why, such is the complex nature of PRP systems.

Keith Flett

London N17