The Friday email: 14 November 2025

IMPORTANT: New Deal for FE further education industrial action ballot is closing

In further education (England FE), UCU is conducting an industrial action ballot involving over 80 UCU branches.

The FE ballot is closing on Monday 17 November.

If you still have your FE postal ballot in hand, please vote as soon as possible, ideally today (Friday 14 November) and it may still reach the independent election scrutineer Civica Election Services in time.

Please note that it is no longer possible to request a FE replacement ballot.

For the avoidance of doubt, the New Deal for FE ballot is for England FE colleges only, and is not for UK higher education institutions/universities. UK higher education have a separate and ongoing ballot (see next section).

Please also note that UCU members in Myerscough College in Lancashire have a different balloting timetable from other FE colleges; Myerscough's ballot will close on Tuesday 25 November.

We are the University: higher education industrial action ballot

In UK higher education, UCU is conducting an industrial action ballot involving 137 universities/higher education institutions (corresponding to 145 UCU branches).

This HE ballot is conducted as a postal vote, as required by law. There is no online option to vote.

Ballot eligible HE members should have received postal ballot packs at their preferred mailing address. The postal ballot pack looks like this (pink, with UCU and Civica Election Services branding). HE members must then return their vote by post to Civica Election Services using the pre-paid envelope, like these two UCU members are doing (with thanks to University of Glasgow UCU). 

Wednesday 26 November is the last 'safe' date to post the HE ballot. If you have your HE postal ballot in hand, please vote as soon as possible.

If you have not received a HE postal ballot, you can request a replacement via this form--please note that this form is for HE only and will close on Sunday 23 November (23:59).

If you have already voted, please click here to let UCU know; this will be an enormous help with UCU's 'get the vote out' activities--again this form is for HE only.

Finally, you can watch a recording of the latest UCU Live on the HE ballot (13 November), and our short film on Briony, a lecturer at Bangor University (see below).

Briony: a Bangor story

In this short film, Briony shares her story as a lecturer at Bangor University: the pressures, passion, and personal cost behind the job.

We shine a light on the reality of teaching in UK higher education, where staff are overworked, undervalued, and fighting for a fairer future.

As UCU members across UK universities cast their ballots, Briony's story is a reminder of why We are the University. Vote YES to protect jobs, workloads, and the quality of education itself.

Stop the Cuts: disputes at UK universities

University of Derby: Derby UCU members have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in a dispute over potential compulsory redundancies and course closures. In the ballot, 82% of those that took part voted for strike action, with 93% backing action short of a strike (ASOS), on a 66% turnout.

Northumbria University: Northumbria UCU members have taken steps towards a strike ballot over plans by the university to force staff from the Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS) to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). The university has told staff that anyone refusing to move onto the new scheme will have their pay frozen, effectively punishing employees who wish to remain in TPS and locking them into years of real terms pay cuts.

Lancaster University: Lancaster UCU will take two days of strike action on Thursday 27 and Friday 28 November in a dispute over a threat to axe one in four staff. Management is attempting to axe over 400 staff by the end of the 2025/26 academic year including over 200 academics. UCU has accused the employer of relying on overly pessimistic forecasts and seeking to achieve the savings it claims are needed by axing staff, rather than looking at other areas of expenditure, including vanity projects such as its new campus in India.

University of Dundee: Dundee UCU took five days of strike action from Monday 10 November. The strike marked the first-year anniversary of the then university principal surprising staff by emailing with the announcement of a £30m deficit and the possibility of compulsory redundancies. To mark the anniversary, on Thursday 13 November the campus trade unions held a rally in Dundee.

University of Leicester: Leicester UCU members began two weeks of strikes from 10 November in their fight against redundancies. This follows three weeks of strikes that began in late September. Management 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.

Cardiff University: UCU has strongly criticised Cardiff University for putting well over a thousand employees at risk of redundancy. Cardiff UCU is currently preparing for a ballot on taking industrial action to protect jobs and prevent overwork; Cardiff UCU said: 'Together with the 1,800 academic staff who were put at risk of redundancy in January 2025, Cardiff University has now put at least 41% of their overall staff at risk of losing their current jobs in a single year'.

University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University: a combined 28 days of strike action are hitting Sheffield in disputes over job cuts at Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam universities. Please click here to read the full story.

University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI): UHI UCU members employed directly by the university are continuing their strike action on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 November. The university has threatened sixteen staff with redundancy in the latest of many rounds of cuts over the past few years. You can support the branch by signing this petition.

Southampton Solent University dispute on pensions

Southampton Solent University UCU has commenced a month-long ballot of its members, over plans to force all Solent staff out of TPS and LGPS pension schemes and onto an inferior local defined contribution (DC) pension scheme, by employing them via a sham subsidiary company.

Staff who refuse the transfer will have their contracts terminated without notice or redundancy pay, mirroring the most egregious fire and rehire practices, such as those seen at P&O. If Solent management succeeds it will set a dangerous precedent, which could undermine standards across the entire HE sector.

UCU recognition and Ravensbourne University London

There will be a ballot with regard to the recognition of UCU at Ravensbourne. However, before ballot arrangements have even been agreed, the university has told staff that 'for the 2025/26 pay year Ravensbourne made an award of 1.5%, which was a slight improvement on the nationally negotiated award'.

Debbie Driscoll, UCU regional support official, said: 'the 1.4% pay increase was imposed unilaterally by UCEA so was not "nationally negotiated" and the unions are in dispute about this. It just goes to show that management there will say anything to keep us out. All we can do is to ask staff to vote YES when they are asked whether they want UCU to collectively bargain on their behalf'.

Prison education: UCU calls for an end to job cuts

UCU has today welcomed the recommendations of the Commons Justice Select Committee as part of its inquiry into prison rehabilitation but urged the government to stop damaging staffing cuts in prison education.

The report raises serious concerns about cuts to prison education funding and says it is 'unacceptable' that 50% of prisoners are not involved in prison education, training or work, despite the high level of need across the adult estate.  

Adult and community education update

Following the cuts to the Adult Skills budget in spring 2025, UCU have been pro-active in lobbying for adult and community education funding in conjunction with the Right2Learn group.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady spoke at the Right2Learn Lifelong Learning Conference, alongside Lauren Edwards MP, co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Skills, Careers and Employment, and UCU took a leading part in the drafting of a joint Right2Learn group letter to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget.

UCU national executive committee update

UCU's national executive committee (NEC) last met on Friday 7 November. Please click here for an update of key discussions and decisions, including priorities for 2025-26.

UCU supports the campaign for VAT exemption in FE colleges

UCU were invited to the launch of a report, which makes the case for VAT exemption in FE colleges. VAT exemption for colleges would increase FE revenue, including for staff pay. The report was commissioned by the Large College Group, made up of seven colleges and college groups, from both the public and private sectors. You can click here to read the report, which was written by the London School of Economics. The report will be delivered to the Chancellor ahead of the Budget. For further information, contact Paul Bridge or Rhianwen Roberts.

COP30 and climate crisis

As world leaders meet in Brazil for COP30, UCU is reaffirming its commitment to climate justice and a sustainable future. The climate crisis is not just an environmental issue: it's a trade union issue. As campus heat stress and flooding create unsafe working conditions, while employers try to make staff pay the price of change through job insecurity and unpaid retraining, the effects of climate breakdown are already being felt across our sectors.

That is why UCU members are taking action. Through our campaigns, we are pushing universities, colleges, and workplaces to decarbonise, divest from fossil fuels, and embed sustainability in all aspects of learning and work.

Our CPD climate training, developed with SOS-UK, equips members to lead this change, empowering educators to bring climate literacy into the classroom and activism into the workplace.

As part of UCU's 2025-26 Year of Climate Action, we will be promoting resources, training, and local support for branches to strengthen climate organising. Together, we can make education a driving force for a just transition, one that protects people and the planet.

Here you can learn more about our plans, from five-minute actions on pensions to securing a Green New Deal in your workplace.

Scotland's Climate March, 15 November

Coinciding with COP30, please join the Trade Union and Just Transition block on Scotland's Climate March, supported by Friends of the Earth Scotland on Saturday 15 November. Assemble at Glasgow Green at 11:00 for a 12 noon departure. Click here for more information on how to donate or become a steward for the march.

UCU submission to the Routes to Settlement inquiry

UCU will be making a submission to the Home Affairs Select Committee's Routes to Settlement Inquiry and we invite members to send us your reflections on how the proposed changes to settlement timelines will potentially impact the sectors/colleagues UCU represents. Please send your contributions to Mary Meekings by Friday 21 November.

Disability Pay Gap Day

Disability Pay Gap Day was held on Wednesday 12 November. It is the day when the average disabled employee stops getting paid compared to the average non-disabled employee. The Disability Pay Gap is 15.5%. Click here for more information and action.

Parliament to investigate Chinese government interference in UK universities

The Foreign Affairs Select Committee is drawing up plans to examine Chinese government interference in UK academia. The plans come after Sheffield Hallam University blocked the work of Professor Laura Murphy whose research was critical of China's human rights record.

Writing in The Economist, Professor Murphy argues the government must heed UCU's call to 'restore public funding to higher education' to stop universities caving in to the demands of foreign regimes due to an over-reliance on international student fees.

We Are Still Here: an anthology

UCU members may be interested in a powerful new publication on the experiences of HE students in Gaza, entitled We Are Still Here: an anthology of resilience, grief, and unshattered hope from Gaza's university students.

The book is a collection of pieces written by students in Gaza and edited by two scholars at the University of Sussex, and is associated with a project to support their English language skills.