Congress 2025: Business of the strategy and finance committee

Motions have been allocated to a section of the NEC's report to Congress (UCU2119). Paragraph headings refer to paragraphs within this report. CBC may have added some new paragraph headings to facilitate the ordering of motions.

Section 3: Business of the Strategy and Finance Committee (closed session)

Paragraph 3, Finance and property

18  Appointment of auditors - National executive committee  

Congress approves the appointment of Knox Cropper as the union's auditors for the year ending 31 August 2025.  

CARRIED

19  Audited financial statements - National executive committee   

Congress receives the union's audited financial statements for the 12-month period ending 31 August 2024 as set out in UCU/2168 [42kb].  CARRIED

20  Budget to 31 August 2026 - National executive committee  

Congress endorses the budget for September 2025 - August 2026 as set out in UCU/2169 [55kb]. CARRIED

21  Subscription rates from 1 September 2025 - National executive committee  

Congress accepts the President's proposal for a progressive increase in subscription rates and endorses the subscription rates from 1 September 2025 set out in UCU/2169 [55kb]. CARRIED

Paragraph 4, Democratic structures and internal issues

22  Timing of Congress - Surrey ACE 

Congress notes Congress and Sector Conferences are often held across the May half-term including Bank Holidays. 

Congress believes: 

1. the timing of Congress and sector conferences has been difficult for working parents. The dates chosen to have often been school and student holidays and often Bank Holidays. This has excluded anyone (primarily women) who often have family commitments
2. taking leave from work to attend Congress or sector conferences in allotted student holidays is vital to staff wellbeing
3. employers are often reluctant to release members for Congress and sector conferences and this is the issue that should be confronted rather than the rescheduling of Congress and sector conferences. 

Congress resolves to: 

1. schedule future Congresses and sector conferences so that they do not disadvantage any UCU member
2. move Congress/sector conferences to be weekday during term time for members
3. call on the General Secretary to prioritise resources supporting delegates to obtain release from work. LOST

23  Prison education national motion - PeoplePlus Prison Education 

Congress notes: 

1. branches are usually located in a specific geographical location, falling within a certain region
2. different regions have different organisational structures and rules
3. prison education branches often do not fall within specific geographical locations, covering wide (e.g. national) areas
4. the regional division is complex for prison education branches to navigate
5. specialism for each region must include knowledge of prison education despite this forming a relatively small portion of a region's membership. 

Congress instructs the executive to: 

1. create an organisational structure for prison education called 'prison education national'
2. give prison education national an equivalent status and position within UCU as the regions 
3. have all prison education branches across all prison education providers fall within prison education national. 

REMITTED

24  Updating UCU model rules and standing orders, and roles guidance - Academic related, professional services staff committee 

UCU's Branch Officer roles guidance doesn't include descriptions of all officer roles, including Anti-Casualisation Officer, Health and Safety Officer, ARPS Officer.  

ARPS representation isn't included in UCU Branch Model Rules or Regional Committee Model Standing Orders.  

Believes:  

1. lack of formal representation can intensify feelings of exclusion
2. elected committees should be representative of job types across the membership.  

Resolves:  

1. update UCU Branch Officer Guidance, working with relevant specialist committees to produce role descriptions (e.g. ARPS and Anti-Casualisation Committees).  
2. communicate changes to all branch/regional executives, to support ratification at the earliest opportunity.  

CARRIED AS AMENDED

24A.1 University of Nottingham

Insert following resolve i.

2. working with relevant specialist committees, review all officer role job descriptions and the use of language throughout the model branch rules to ensure they reflects current equality strands and language. For example, insert 'migrant members' in the enumeration of equality groups in bullet iv) under 8.6 Equality Officer.

And renumber accordingly.

CARRIED

25  Pensions Business at Congress - Scottish retired members 

Congress notes 

1. that important aspects of most pension schemes to which members belong are cross-sectoral
2. that informed discussion of these is hampered by the artificial restriction of, for example, USS to HE and TPS to FE
3. that nevertheless there are certain issues where the employed status of members is key. 

Congress therefore instructs NEC to 

1. ensure that a section of full Congress business is allocated to discussion of pension matters not relating directly to employment status 
2. provide guidance for CBC to allocate pensions motions accordingly
3. further consider the issues of TPS in HE, USS in FE, and other groups such as prison educators, in order to ensure that all members are franchised in pension discussions, regardless of their designated sector. 

LOST

26  Access to pensions and record-keeping - Yorkshire and Humberside retired members  

Congress notes that: 

1. access to good occupational pensions is important for avoiding poverty in old age 
2. casualised employment, high rents and student debts may discourage workers from joining a pension scheme
3. precarious employment and frequent changes of employer, or working for several employers, may make it difficult for some workers to keep a complete record of all their pension scheme contributions, leading to risk of loss of income in retirement. 

Congress instructs NEC: 

1. to collect data on pension scheme membership of UCU members, through adding data on pension scheme membership to the regular checks of membership records
2. to produce advice for members, especially those in precarious employment, about ways of keeping records of all payments into pension schemes
3. to encourage employers to provide regular advice on pensions and pension record-keeping for all staff, including casualised staff.  

CARRIED AS AMENDED

26A.1 South West retired members branch

After point 3 add new point 4

4. the TPS does not publish data on the numbers of active, deferred and pensioner members by employer type (such FE Colleges or HEIs) and the DfE has refused a FOI request to do so

After point c, add new point d

4. to press the TPS to publish data on the numbers of active, deferred and pensioner members by employer type, including FE Colleges and HEIs.

CARRIED

27  Fighting redundancies and indicative industrial action ballots - University of Sheffield International College (USIC) 

Congress notes:  

1. USIC UCU used industrial action to successfully prevent compulsory redundancies (at time of writing)
2. through voluntary redundancy and redeployment, a significant number of jobs were lost
3. USIC UCU resolved unanimously to move to a statutory ballot for industrial action at a branch meeting attended by over 60% of the membership on 13.11.2024
4. USIC UCU was advised a statutory ballot would not be authorised unless an indicative ballot was held
5. strike action was not put in place until 12.02.2025
6. jobs could have been saved if action had been called earlier.  

Congress resolves:  

1. where redundancies are threatened branches must be able to move to strike action as quickly as possible
2. smaller branches (<250 members) should be empowered to determine how to appropriately demonstrate a statutory ballot is justified
3. local dispute guidance should be updated to support branches to fight redundancies effectively.   

CARRIED AS AMENDED

27A.1  Liverpool John Moores University

Amend Resolves B): delete 'smaller' and '(<250 members)'

Add new Resolves A) and re-label subsequent resolves B)

1. that all relevant parties be reminded there is no requirement in rule or law to require indicative ballots before a statutory ballot.

CARRIED

28  Strike days and fighting fund access - Newcastle University 

This Congress notes:  

1. the devastating wave of job losses and course closures in post-16 education. The importance of resistance by serious industrial action against determined employers
2. the catastrophic consequences of failing to resist for the union
3. the beginning of the new academic year will bring another wave of job losses unless the employers are deterred from doing so. Serious industrial action is spreading and challenging both the employers as well as putting a spotlight on government failure to address the funding of post-16 education
4. limits on strike days and new conditions on fighting fund access materially impact the ability of branches to resist.  

This Congress resolves  

1. that UK Officers be instructed to lift such limits and conditions
2. that strike pay be determined on previous basis (from day three at rates of £50/70)
3. that percentage of UCU annual income going to the fighting fund be doubled. 

REMITTED (Not taken)

29  Providing secure software platforms for branch and regional business and communication - Composite: Eastern and Home Counties regional committee, West Midlands regional committee 

Congress notes: 

1. that union organising, in terms of both member outreach and the administration of branch business, is increasingly being conducted online
2. that most branches rely on their employer's software platforms to organise union business which can create tensions between UCU and institutional data protocols/usage policies
3. that effective internal communication within the union - at branch and regional/national level - is one of the most important factors for ensuring effective organising and democratic decision-making
4. that there are increasingly sophisticated ways that this usage could be monitored by the employer
5. that attempts to avoid this monitoring could lead to the use of platforms that are not compliant with relevant data protection legislation
6. the following actions (c-e below) to address this were remitted at Congress 2023 but are not actioned. 

Congress resolves: 

1. to explore the data protection and security implications of widening access to UCU owned software for branch use.   
2. in line with the above, to facilitate the use of existing software platforms by branches within the licenses owned and operated by UCU where this is requested.  
3. to invest in UCU's communications infrastructure, to better support the business of the union and the engagement of all members in democratic decision-making 
4. to provide branches with the basic digital tools they need to conduct committee business, to free up their time from basic administration to allow more productive organising and campaigning 
5. to provide a communications solution that allows cross-branch communications; that can facilitate regional, national and special interest group discussions in one secure and members-only space. Members need a single digital centralised space for; hosting video meetings and conferences; facilitating delimited and secure discussions; and enabling digital decision-making. 

REMITTED (Not taken)

30  Disclosure of legal advice to members - University of Birmingham  

Congress notes:  

1. that the UCU will not disclose legal advice to members they receive when deciding to support or reject a legal support application
2. the Legal Scheme Regulations do not set out an expectation for the UCU to give members an explanation within a reasonable to timeframe of why a request for legal support was supported or rejected.  

Congress resolves to ask NEC to explore:  

1. how UCU will give a detailed explanation to all members who have their application for legal support rejected to include the disclosure of any legal advice received by the UCU, unless disclosure of such legal advice would be unlawful.  
2. how the disclosure of the information in regard to why an application for legal support was rejected shall be done swiftly in no more than 10 working days.  

REMITTED (Not taken)

31  Reporting back of NEC members to constituencies - University of Nottingham  

Congress instructs the NEC to formulate rule change motions to ensure the following:  

1. NEC members canvass opinions from branches and regions in their constituencies prior to NEC and NEC subcommittee meetings  
2. NEC members produce a written report within two working weeks of NEC and NEC subcommittees to be circulated in the appropriate constituency
3. Appropriate mechanisms to be established by UCU to support circulation of reports from NEC members to constituencies.  

REMITTED (Not taken)

32  Special Congress on UCU Democracy - Durham University 

Congress notes: 

1. the 2019 special meeting of National [UK] Congress (hereafter 'special Congress') following the Democracy Commission, at which 38 motions were ordered onto the agenda, 11 carried or part-carried, and 6 lost or fell.  
2. that not all motions carried have been fully implemented. 

Congress believes: 

1. it is regrettable that 21 motions at the special Congress weren't taken, motions carried have not been fully implemented, and matters of concern to the Democracy Commission have not had motions passed addressing them
2. significant concerns with democracy in UCU remain. 

Congress instructs the National Executive Committee (NEC) to convene a special Congress on UCU democracy in 2025 (per rule 16.11). 

REMITTED (Not taken)

33  Resolving the dispute with UCU Unite - Southern Regional Committee 

Congress urges UCU to explore as a matter of urgency every opportunity to resolve the current dispute with UCU Unite, including seeking the support of the TUC. REMITTED (Not taken)