The Friday email: 12 September 2025

We are the University: higher education industrial action ballot

The elected representatives on UCU's higher education committee voted to call an industrial action ballot for all members covered by the JNCHES negotiating umbrella.

The ballot comes after HEC representatives considered the results of the consultative electronic ballot on the higher education pay and working conditions 2025/26 final offer from the employers' representative Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA).   

The other campus unions (UNISON, GMB, Unite and EIS) are also proceeding with statutory industrial action ballots of their members. We have agreed the following provisional timetable with Civica Election Services, the independent election scrutineer. The vote will be conducted by post as required by law and is provisionally set to open in the week commencing Monday 20 October, and it will run for approximately 6 weeks.

New Deal for FE update

On Wednesday 17 September UCU, alongside our sister unions in further education (NEU, Unison, GMB and Unite) will meet with employers' representative Association of Colleges (AoC). At that meeting we expect the AoC to make a pay recommendation for the 2025/26 year.

It is important to note that AoC's pay recommendation is not binding, and it will not guarantee that all staff working in further education colleges in England will receive it. The joint unions' response to AoC will consider a full range of issues.

At UCU's further education sector conference (FESC) in May 2025, delegates from FE voted to escalate the New Deal for FE campaign to a dispute and ballot for strike action, if AoC would not make a meaningful offer to the 2025/26 joint union claim.

Meanwhile, please click here to see UCU's response to Ofsted's decision to press ahead with its new 'report card' system, warning it will increase pressure on education staff and deepen the culture of fear and anxiety already endemic in inspections.

UCU response to University of Greenwich and University of Kent merger

On the morning of Wednesday 10 September, many staff and students at the universities of Greenwich and Kent found out through BBC News that their institutions are merging in 2026 to form a so-called 'super-university'. Click here to see a statement from UCU. The regional officers and the respective branches are working urgently to seek information on the implications of this merger for job security and working conditions.

Save Adult Education: sign our petition, email your MP

Adult education plays an absolutely vital role in fostering community cohesion and pushing back against hatred and division. Read this article on how this is playing out at one provider. The critical importance of this work makes it all the more inexcusable that the UK government has pushed through cuts to the Adult Skills Fund, directly undermining the work educators are doing to combat the far-right in our communities.

In our campaign to Save Adult Education, we are calling for these cuts to be reversed and for proper investment in adult skills and education. We are also demanding that adult education plays a central role in a national skills strategy--ensuring staff in the sector are treated as professionals, with secure contracts and terms and conditions equal to other educators. To support the Save Adult Education campaign, you can sign our petition and write to your MP.

Stop the Cuts! Dispute at UK universities

University of Lincoln: members at University of Lincoln have ended their dispute over compulsory redundancies, as a planned second round due to start in September 2025 has been withdrawn. This would have been impossible without the hard work and industrial action that got us to this point; our heartfelt thanks to Lincoln UCU branch, members and UCU staff.

University of Edinburgh: Edinburgh UCU branch took part in a week of strike action from Monday 8 September to coincide with welcome week. The strike is over senior management's plans to cut £140m annually and an unprecedented cut of 1,800 jobs. Click here for the full story and you can send messages of solidarity here.

University of Leicester: members have announced that they will take fifteen days of industrial action (Monday 29 September-Friday 17 October) in response to the university's plans to slash jobs. The action comes after an overwhelming 80% of staff backed strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 62%. University managers have told staff in six areas (geography, geology and the environment; education; chemistry; modern languages; history; film studies) that their jobs are at risk as they seek to cut staffing budget by £11m. Hundreds of professional services staff have also been told they face a review that may lead to job losses.

University of Dundee: some eleven months after news of the financial and management crisis broke at Dundee, staff are still facing brutal cuts and the very real possibility of compulsory redundancies. After taking multiple days of strike action earlier in the year, Dundee UCU members are re-balloting to extend their mandate to fight cuts and save jobs. The re-ballot will run to 6 October. You can send messages of solidarity here.

Lancaster University: members are continuing to campaign against proposals to sack over 400 staff as part of management plans to slash £35m from the pay bill. UCU members have held stalls in Lancaster on Saturdays over the summer, and have spoken at a recent meeting of Lancaster City Council. They have scoured the support of both the Labour and Green groups on Lancaster City Council, and have launched a statutory industrial action ballot on Friday 12 September.

University of the Highlands and Islands: UHI plans to cut sixteen posts at the executive office in a bid to save £2m, despite workloads already being overwhelming after previous job losses. UCU opened a ballot for industrial action on 10 September in response, as further cuts risk worsening conditions and threatening more jobs. You can send messages of solidarity to the branch here.

University of Sheffield: an industrial action ballot opened in late August, in a dispute over management's plans to put staff in five academic areas at risk of redundancy, as well as continued risk of redundancy to professional services staff across the university. The university announced reviews of staffing in chemistry, civil engineering, management, materials science, and East Asian studies.

Industrial action ballots are also running at Sheffield Hallam University, University of the West of Scotland, and Oxford Brookes University.

UCU elections: casual vacancies on NEC

UCU is currently conducting a ballot for the election of two casual vacancies on the union's national executive committee (NEC): HE North East, and HE UK-elected.

Postal ballot materials have been dispatched by Civica Election Services on Monday 18 August. The ballot closes on Thursday 18 September. The union encourages all ballot eligible members to vote. Please note that the replacement ballot request form already closed on Thursday 11 September. Further information on this election, including rules and election addresses can be found on the casual vacancies election page of the UCU website.

UCU webinar on HE governance, 17 September

UCU is holding a webinar on Zoom entitled 'HE governance in a time of crisis' on Wednesday 17 September (13:00-14:15). You can register here.

The current funding and jobs crisis in UK higher education is also a failure of HE governance. Come and hear from academic experts and union activists about the nature of the governance problems in higher education and discuss union responses, including internationally. Speakers include: Professor Steve Jones (University of Manchester); Dr Sophia Woodman (University of Edinburgh); Dr Sinéad Kennedy (Maynooth University).

Visa holders and redundancies webinar, 2 October

UCU is holding a webinar on Zoom entitled 'Visa holders and redundancies' on Thursday 2 October (13:00-14:00). You can click here to register.

UCU's migrant members' standing committee (MMSC) has received many queries from migrant members who are facing redundancy and are understandably concerned about how this may impact their visa and visa fees that they have paid. Specialist immigration lawyers Bindmans LLP will be delivering a webinar on the implications of redundancy for those on a visa. If you have any specific questions that you would like addressed, please email these to UCU's equality inbox by 26 September.

International conference on academic freedom, 15 October

UCU, with the support of Education International (EI), is hosting an international conference on academic freedom on Wednesday 15 October. The conference will hear from international trade unions and experts about global and national challenges to academic freedom and will discuss how to build effective union responses, including in the UK. The confirmed keynote speaker is Robert Quinn, executive director of the Scholars at Risk Network.

The conference is free and will be run as a hybrid event. UCU members can either attend online or in person at the Hamilton House Meeting Rooms, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD. In-person places are already all full, but you can still register for online attendance.

Power Up! New Organising 4 Power course

The international organising programme, Organising 4 Power (O4P), has a new online course. It's called 'Power Up!' and is open to all regardless of previous organising experience. The course focuses on building capacity and developing winning campaigns. It will run over four sessions, two in November and two in December, coupled with support sessions from UCU facilitators. Click here for more details and to register.

UCU equality group conferences 2025

This year each of UCU's equality groups will have a one-day hybrid conference. The venue will be UCU head office, and the online platform will be Zoom. Those joining remotely will be able to participate fully in the conference, including voting on motions and attending workshops. When registering for the event delegates must select if they wish to attend the conference/s in-person or remotely.

The days of the conferences are outlined below (all from 11:00-16:00):

• Friday 14 November: women members' annual conference
• Saturday 15 November: LGBT+ members' annual conference
• Thursday 20 November: disabled members' annual conference
• Friday 21 November: Black members' annual conference
• Friday 5 December: migrant members' conference

This year the equality groups conference will have a broad theme of 'Organising against division: building inclusive workplaces, resisting reactionary politics'. To register please use this link, which will take you to the main equality groups conference page.

In memory of Will Nelson and Kayleigh Smith

We have learned that UCU member Will Nelson and his partner Kayleigh Smith were among those who tragically lost their lives in the Lisbon funicular crash. Our thoughts are with his family, friends, colleagues and everyone affected.