The Universities and Colleges Employers' Association (Ucea), the employers' body that negotiates university staff pay, is drawing up two codes aimed at making pay negotiations clearer and easier to deal with.

Ucea wants members who are part of pay negotiations to sign up to a code, which will spell out what members can expect from employers and the commitments expected in return.

Under the codes for national and local bargaining, universities opting into pay negotiations would commit to a set course of action in the event of an industrial dispute.

Ucea chief executive Jocelyn Prudence told EducationGuardian.co.uk: "There was a lot of unhappiness in the dispute, from unions' behaviour, to institutions going off and doing their own thing, and an inconsistent approach to docking pay. Aligning things through this code it should help that in the future."

The document is still being finalised and will be presented for consultation at a conference on November 29. A briefing paper has been sent to universities.