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  9. LSBU blocks access to pension & threatens academics with the sack if they don't accept new terms with increased workloads

LSBU blocks access to pension & threatens academics with the sack if they don't accept new terms with increased workloads

26 March 2026

London South Bank University (LSBU) has threatened to put all its academic staff at risk of redundancy in a restructure that would divide the workforce into teaching or research streams, worsening terms and conditions.

The threatened changes, which would be brought in by the start of the next academic year, would degrade the terms and conditions of all staff and prevent new starters from accessing the industry standard Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS). The university has also threatened to withdraw UCU's current bargaining rights for 'teaching only' academics at the university.

Trade unions were invited to a meeting with LSBU management on Monday (23 March) where they were told the academic workforce would be kicked off their current contracts and put onto new ones with staff divided into research or teaching streams. New starters would be hired through a subsidiary company and denied access to TPS.

LSBU also aims to increase the hours of both teaching and research academics without any commensurate rise in pay for either group. To do so, the university is ripping up long-standing local and national agreements that protect workload, overtime and the pay and grading structure. UCU fears that LSBU will 'fire and rehire' any staff who refuse to accept the new terms.

In response, at a well-attended branch meeting, UCU members voted unanimously to reject the proposal, defend their collective bargaining rights, and fight against the changes.

At a meeting on 24 March management were asked whether LSBU intended to withdraw from national pay negotiations. The university had no answer to this query and refused to agree to the demand to halt this attack on jobs, livelihoods and the union.  

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'LSBU is putting academic jobs at risk unnecessarily and clearly wants to rip up national and local agreements that protect our members. Given the strength of opposition to these changes, we hope that we do not see tactics like those seen at P&O, or that LSBU will try to force them through under the guise of redundancies. It must think again.  If it does not, our members will be forced to vote for strike action.'

Last updated: 26 March 2026