The Friday email: 23 May 2025

UCU Congress and sector conferences 2025

The union's supreme policy-making body is its annual Congress, which is taking place in Liverpool from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 May. Congress will bring together delegates from across further education, higher education, prison education, and adult and community education to debate and shape union policy on key issues including pay, workload, equality, and the future of post-16 education.

Key highlights include:

• Friday 23 May PM: introduction to Congress
• Saturday 24 May: opening business session including general secretary Jo Grady's speech
• Sunday 25 May: sector conference debates 
• Monday 26 May: business continues with equality committee motions and proposed rule changes.

Congress includes separate annual meetings of UCU's further and higher education sector conferences, where policies particular to those areas are decided. You can click here for more informationand for motions to be debated.

New Deal for FE: electronic consultation opened 22 May

At UCU Congress 2025, FE delegates will make crucial decisions about the next steps of the New Deal for FE campaign. Members can read the FE motions (from page 47) here.

An electronic consultation opened on Thursday 22 May to assess member support for any strike action. Eligible UCU members from participating England FE branches should have already received an electronic ballot at their preferred email address. If you are a full UCU FE member and have not received your ballot email, the replacement request form will open from Thursday 29 May.

Full information about this consultation is available on this page. The consultation closes on Friday 20 June at 17:00.

Stop the Cuts! Disputes at UK universities

We are asking everyone to continue to sign and share UCU's Stop the Cuts petition.

University of Plymouth announced up to 200 jobs at risk with over 100 of these jobs being academic roles. The university says it needs to save £22m despite making a surplus of £24.1m in 2024/25 and is still pursuing a capital investment campus project. Job losses will impact arts, humanities, business, science and engineering, as well as health particularly the social work and nursing programmes. You can show your support by signing this petition.

Liverpool Hope University intends to axe 39 staff. The threatened cuts will fall on the faculties of education and social sciences, creative arts and humanities, and human and digital sciences. Management claims it needs to make the cuts due to its own predicted deficit, with staff set to go as soon as November 2025.

University of Greenwich intends to axe up to 319 staff, around a quarter of its total workforce. The cuts will fall on the faculty of liberal arts and sciences, faculty of engineering and science, and the Greenwich Business School. Click here for the full story.

University of Derby is going through mass redundancies following a voluntary scheme. The first target are the professorial and associate professorial grades. The entire group were put at risk but the university have now changed this to 35. This is still a near 50% cull of those grades. UCU remains in consultation but the branch have set up a petition, and you can add your signature here.

University of Edinburgh UCU members have backed strike action by 84% on a 60% turnout in a dispute over management's plans to cut £140m from the university's budget and refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. Click here for the full story. You can send messages of support and solidarity to the branch via here.

Bournemouth University UCU members were balloting over a proposed restructure and redundancy dismissals which will put 150-200 staff at risk. Results came in earlier this week; on a turnout of 78%, 75% voted for strike action and 91% backed action short of a strike (ASOS).

University of Dundee members are on strike next week, from Monday 26 to Friday 30 May. The action follows fifteen days of strikes in February and March, over job cuts and compulsory redundancies. You can send messages of support and solidarity to the branch via here.

University of Bradford UCU members are also voting in a strike ballot over plans to axe at least 300 jobs that will see chemistry and film and television courses shut down.

University of Liverpool UCU members (academic-related and professional services) are currently balloting (closing 30 May) in a dispute over management's refusal to reach agreement over on-site attendance.

University of Lincoln UCU branch is currently balloting members for industrial action, following the failure of management to rule out compulsory redundancies. The University has announced up to 285 potential redundancies, including the closure of the UK's only Equality, Diversity and Inclusion institute. This is on top of the 200+ jobs that went via voluntary means last year. Please sign this petition in solidarity.

Kingston University UCU branch is also balloting members over the university's failure to commit to avoid compulsory redundancies. This involves closure of humanities and courses in criminology, politics and sociology.

University of Nottingham UCU branch is balloting members imminently in a dispute over job cuts. Newcastle University UCU has further strike dates in May and June and are re-balloting members over massive redundancies. University of Bristol's CALD (Centre for Academic Language and Development) is balloting in June over job cuts.

Finally, please support many other branches where UCU members in higher education are also defending jobs and education.

Higher education pay and working conditions negotiations update

The joint higher education trade unions (Unite, UNISON, UCU, GMB and EIS) have been meeting with the employers' representative, Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), to negotiate on the 2025/26 pay and working conditions claim.

The joint higher education trade unions met with UCEA in London for the third and final meeting of the 2025/26 pay and working conditions negotiations on 15 May 2025. The five trade unions received the full and final offer from UCEA on 20 May. You can click here for a statement agreed by all five trade unions.

Academic boycott of Brunel University over mass redundancies

UCU has declared an academic boycott of Brunel University London in response to the institution's continued pursuit of mass redundancies. The boycott has begun on Tuesday 15 April 2025, unless the university withdraws the threat of compulsory redundancies, provides transparent financial information, enters collective conciliation talks through Acas, and reinstates those already involuntarily dismissed.

UCU is asking members, supporters, and the international academic community to observe the boycott by:

• not applying for jobs at Brunel
• not attending or organising academic or other conferences at the university
• not giving talks or lectures at Brunel
• not accepting visiting appointments at Brunel
• not contributing to academic journals edited at or produced by the university
• not taking on roles as external examiners for Brunel's taught courses.

Havant and South Downs College: strike ballot result

The strike ballot at Havant and South Downs College closed on Wednesday 21 May in a dispute over proposed restructure and redundancies that puts up to 106 staff at risk. On a turnout of 61%, 64% UCU members backed strike action and 90% backed action short of a strike (ASOS). The branch will decide on next steps of their campaign. We also encourage UCU members across the country to sign this petition in solidarity.

UCU Green Futures newsletter, May 2025

The second edition of Green Futures, the newsletter of the Climate and ecological emergency committee (CEEC), has just been published. It carries information on the UCU South West green reps network; prison education and climate change; Green and environmental motions at Congress 2025; and much more. Click here to download the Green Futures newsletter.

Malcolm X centenary

Monday 19 May saw the 100th anniversary of Malcolm X's birth. UCU will be honouring his memory and legacy with a series of inspirational quotations, speeches, recommended readings, audio and visual materials plus personal contributions from UCU members. Please click this page for reflections from Maxine Looby, UCU's first Black president.