Support striking colleagues: donate to the UCU fighting fund
Colleagues who can afford to do so are asked to consider a donation to the UCU fighting fund. Donations to the fund are spent on supporting members involved in important disputes. As always, members are asked to only contribute whatever their circumstances allow. Any amount will be gratefully received by members taking action.

Your support is needed
11 March 2024
UCU is determined to resist the current wave of job cuts and attacks on working conditions taking place in post-16 education throughout the UK and these campaigns are asking for your support.
Brunel University London: 'significant academic resizing programme'
Brunel UCU members are fighting plans to make 135 academics redundant. Please see Brunel UCU branch's website for the latest updates.
Update, 24 January 2025: a ballot has opened at Brunel in response to the university's failure to commit to no compulsory redundancies. UCU has received notification of 135 academic redundancies at the university plus 79 technical and professional staff and there is possibility of further redundancies. The ballot closes on 12 February and members are urged to vote early.
Update, 12 February 2025: Staff at Brunel University have overwhelmingly backed industrial action in defence of jobs announced the University and College Union (UCU) today, with 75% of staff who voted in the ballot voting in favour of strike action, on a turnout of 61%.
Canterbury Christ Church University: job cuts
The UCU branch at Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU) has declared a trade dispute following the university's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. They have announced 400 FTE job cuts by the end of this academic year, to save £20 million.
The branch voted to enter dispute after the vice-chancellor announced a voluntary redundancy scheme just before Christmas 2024, but with no forward plans finalised and before any restructure, staff were told to discuss it with their families over the festive break.
The branch is running a campaign including raising awareness with students, lobbying local and national politicians, and a vote of no confidence in CCCU management and the board of governors, and ultimately may lead to strike action.
Cardiff University: job cuts
At the end of January 2025, Cardiff University has announced plans to cut 400 staff and drop subjects including nursing and music; UCU members will be balloted for industrial action imminently.
UCU members at Cardiff University will be balloted for industrial action from February to March 2025; click here to read Cardiff University UCU branch's press release.
Coventry University: job cuts
Coventry University has threatened more than 300 staff with the sack. Those who remain will be forced to work through a subsidiary company on behalf of the university, and any new starters would be unable to access the industry-standard Teachers' Pension Scheme.
From correspondence it has received from university management, UCU estimates over 100 staff could lose their jobs and more than 200 could be contracted over to Peoples Futures Limited (PFL), a company owned by the university. Coventry University UCU members would be meeting in December 2024 to decide how to fight the punitive proposals and that they would likely begin balloting for strike action.
Update, 6 February 2025: UCU has launched a petition calling for the immediate removal of Coventry University vice-chancellor John Latham from the Department for Business and Trade board; we urge all UCU members to support this petition.
University of Dundee: job cuts and threat of compulsory redundancies
In November 2024 the then University of Dundee principal, Iain Gillespie, announced plans to cut staffing levels. These cuts have been presented as 'inevitable' due to a forecasted £25-30 million deficit for 2024-25, and the employer has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. Dundee UCU believes there is no clear financial justification for these measures. The university's leadership has failed to rule out compulsory redundancies and Dundee UCU wants meaningful negotiations to explore alternatives and to ensure that no one is forced out of their job.
The industrial action ballot opened on 2 January 2025 and will close on 30 January 2025.
Update, 31 January 2025: Staff at the University of Dundee have backed strikes in a dispute over the university's £30m deficit and plans to cut jobs including by compulsory redundancies. In the ballot of UCU Scotland members (turnout 64%), 74% voted to back strike action and 92% voted to back action short of a strike (ASOS).
Durham University: job cuts
UCU is in dispute with Durham management over plans to axe 200 jobs and the university's failure to rule out compulsory redundancies.
University of East Anglia: dispute over redundancies
A strike ballot has opened at the University of East Anglia (UEA) after almost one in six staff were put at risk of redundancy.
The ballot will run until Tuesday 4 February, 2025 and a successful result will pave the way for strike action to begin later that month unless management rules out compulsory redundancies.
The dispute is over management's threat to cut over 190 staff to meet continued budget shortfalls at the institution. According to the business case published in November 2024, management intends to cut at least 30 staff in the faculty of medicine and health sciences, 25 in the faculty of science, 22 in the faculty of arts and humanities, and at least 90 from departments across professional services at the institution.
This dispute follows over 400 staff leaving UEA in 2023 due to management's projected £40m deficit in that year.
Update, 6 February 2025: The UEA UCU ballot closed on 4 February 2025, on a turnout of 67.24%, 81.84% voted to take part in industrial action consisting of a strike and 83.55% voted to take part in industrial action short of a strike (ASOS).
East Sussex College Group: dispute over pay
An industrial ballot opens at East Sussex College Group on Monday 30 September 2024 and will close on Thursday 31 October 2024. The dispute concerns the failure of East Sussex College Group management to offer a substantial pay rise in response to the 2024/25 pay claim.
Update, November 2024: Members at East Sussex College in Hastings, Lewes and Eastbourne will be taking strike action on Tuesday 26 November if a much improved pay offer is not received. Members are dismayed that management have signalled an offer of 2%. UCU had put in a pay claim of 10% and teachers in sixth-form colleges have received a pay award of 5.5%. The gap between sixth form and FE pay is now approximately £10,000. UCU believes it is time to re-dress the balance between sixth form and FE pay rather than creating an even bigger gap between professionals that are teaching the same qualifications. The employer at East Sussex College needs to get round the table and work with UCU to find a way out of this mess or UCU will, reluctantly, push ahead with our plans to strike.
University of Edinburgh: job cuts
The principal of University of Edinburgh announced in early February 2025 that the university's funding gap is large and urgent enough to mean that 'nothing is off the table' as the university seeks to cut staff and make savings. The union disputes the need for cuts saying that the university is wealthier than it has ever been.
University of Hull: job cuts
An industrial action ballot over job cuts will open at University of Hull on Monday 2 September 2024 and close on Friday 27 September 2024.
In August 2024, management at University of Hull launched the formal consultation to make up to 127 staff compulsory redundant on statutory redundancy terms by 9 December 2024. Nearly 96 of affected employees could be academic staff. The latest round of cuts comes after the closure of a voluntary severance scheme in May 2024 that led to 107 employees already leaving the university.
Update, 30 September 2024: University of Hull UCU's industrial action ballot closed on Friday 27 September 2024. On a turnout of 55.06%, 78.92% voted 'Yes' to strike action and 83.86% voted 'Yes' to action short of a strike (ASOS).
University of Kent: job cuts and workload
The University of Kent announced recently that there are likely to be up to 58 academic redundancies. This is on top of year on year cuts that have seen a dramatic decline in staffing. The current situation is entirely of the employer's own making: there is no reason, other than management failings, that Kent find themselves in this mess. UCU are determined to fight this academic vandalism and defend the university; show your support and sign this petition.
Update, 23 February 2024: an industrial action ballot opened on Friday 23 February and will close on Friday 5 April.
Update, 5 April 2024: University of Kent UCU members have backed strike action in defence of jobs. The result comes as the person in charge of the cuts, vice-chancellor Karen Cox, announces she will step down in May 2024, before they are even implemented. An overwhelming 85% of UCU members who voted said 'Yes' to strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 57%. The vote comes after 58 staff were placed at risk of redundancy as part of a programme that would see courses closed across the university. Courses set to go include art history, music and audio technology, philosophy, religious studies, anthropology, health and social care, and journalism. A petition to save the courses has now reached over 16k signatures. Management also wants to slash the amount of time staff have allocated to research from 40% to as little as 20%.
Update, 29 August 2024: an industrial action ballot will open on Monday 2 September and will close on Friday 4 October. University of Kent UCU is in dispute with the employer over two things: the employer's failure to rule out any processes that could lead to the compulsory redundancy of staff within the UCU bargaining group before 31 December 2025; and the employer's failure to provide guarantees that no one within the UCU bargaining group will suffer detriment to their workload in the years 2024 and 2025.
Update, 4 October 2024: University of Kent UCU's industrial action ballot closed on Friday 4 October 2024. On a turnout of 52.3%, 81.3% voted 'Yes' to strike action and 90.2% voted 'Yes' to action short of a strike (ASOS).
Medical Research Council: specialised research unit closures
UCU members are becoming increasingly concerned about the decision by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to change the funding for research units and to replace them with Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs).
MRC units are unique scientific assets and their closure will have a detrimental impact of the entire medical research sector in the UK.
An open letter to Professor Vallance, the minister of state for science, research and innovation has been put together by UCU members. We are keen to share the letter outside of MRC units and with people across the scientific community, so please circulate this to their contacts as well as sign it.
We are hoping some renewed political pressure at this point will encourage a pause to the transition so that the concerns members have highlighted can be addressed.
Update, 21 January 2025: Nobel prize winners, Sir Venki Ramakrishnan and Professor Geoffrey Hinton, as well as the Astronomer Royal, Professor Lord Martin Rees, have joined over 600 other signatories to an open letter demanding the Medical Research Council (MRC) revisits funding changes that could lead to the closure of highly successful research units.
Other signatories include public intellectual and Harvard professor Steven Pinker and former president of the Royal Statistical Society David Spiegelhalter, alongside nearly 70 other national academy fellows, 110 professors and more than 300 other academics, researchers, and support staff from the UK and abroad.
The letter, addressed to science minister Lord Patrick Vallance and shared with Patrick Chinnery and Keir Starmer, is in response to the MRC's new funding model, which will eliminate direct sustained investment in the existing internationally renowned research units.
Newcastle University: job cuts
Over 1,000 UCU members will be balloted for strike action at Newcastle University over £35m in cuts management is slashing from the university's budget.
The ballot, which opens on Monday 20 January 2025, is over the impact of huge cuts across the institution. These include cancelling promotions, restricting travel, and asking staff to quit the institution via a voluntary severance scheme. The university has also refused to rule out compulsory redundancies. You can send messages of support to the Newcastle University UCU branch.
Update, 11 February 2025: Staff at Newcastle University overwhelmingly backed strike action in defence of jobs. An overwhelming 83% of staff who voted did so in favour of strike action in a ballot with a turnout of 64%. UCU called on the university to listen to its workers and work with the union to avoid compulsory redundancies and avoid industrial unrest on campus. The ballot result comes after management cancelled promotions, restricted travel and asked staff to quit the institution through a voluntary severance scheme.
Update, 14 February 2025: Newcastle University staff will strike for 14 days next month unless management protects jobs. The full strike dates are:
- Week 1: Tuesday 4 and Thursday 6 March
- Week 2: Monday 10, Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 March
- Week 3: Monday 17, Tuesday 18, Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 March
- Week 4: Monday 24, Tuesday 25, Wednesday 26, Thursday 27 and Friday 28 March
Staff will be on picket lines outside university buildings each day of strike action.
University of Northampton: organisation-wide restructure plans
University of Northampton UCU and UNISON branches are calling on government for immediate help.
Northampton is currently consulting staff on organisation-wide restructure plans which if not stopped could result in closure of programmes, departments and compulsory redundancies.
A unique circumstance at Northampton is that its Waterside campus was paid for through a bond guaranteed by a previous government which it now has difficulty paying due to decreased international student recruitment. It is in the government's power to support University of Northampton in adjusting the terms of the bond and in doing this the impact of current financial pressures would be mitigated.
Please show your solidarity for all staff at University of Northampton by signing this petition which implores government to take action.
Ravensbourne University London: attack on trade unions
Following over twelve months of discussion between UCU and the employer, in November last year, UCU applied (with UNISON) for voluntary recognition at Ravensbourne University London. Ravensbourne responded by offering to negotiate, an offer which was accepted, and an initial negotiation meeting was scheduled for 10 January 2024. On 5 January, vice-chancellor Andy Cook pre-empted that negotiation and announced an independent ballot of all staff 'to gauge the level of support for formal trade union recognition' and 'to gauge the level of support to establish a Representative Staff Forum as an alternative to formal trade union recognition'.
Deborah Driscoll, UCU regional support official (London HE), said: 'after months of stalling and telling us that they wanted to work with UCU, it seems that Ravensbourne's management have finally shown their true colours. It has now become apparent that the VC does not want to recognise independent trade unions and would prefer a toothless and ineffective "Representative Staff Forum" instead. Two petitions have shown overwhelming support for the application for recognition of UCU at Ravensbourne and we are ready to continue to make the case to the staff if there is a ballot. We are currently waiting for the university's proposals in writing before agreeing anything as we need to ensure that any vote would be genuinely free and fair. UCU are very alert to any hint of unfair practices by the university and would urge staff to get in contact with their local UCU branch if they have any concerns. The university has agreed not to put out any further communications to staff about firm ballot arrangements for the time being.'
Update, 26 January 2024: UCU members at Ravensbourne University are campaigning for trade union recognition following management proposals to establish an alternative 'representative staff forum'. Staff are to be balloted on the two options by the university with provisional ballot dates of 4-17 March. UCU is arguing for formal recognition which would provide an agreed negotiating framework and give staff a voice to influence key decisions at Ravensbourne whereas the proposed management-controlled forum doesn't come with the same rights and obligations. Find out more about this important campaign by clicking here and support our demand for a seat at the decision-making table by following the branch on Instagram here.
Update, 9 February 2024: Ravensbourne University London's ballot of staff on whether to have a 'staff forum' instead of independent trade union recognition is being exposed for vote-rigging. The employer is refusing to have a vote purely on whether staff want UCU to be recognised, is demanding a high turnout rather than a simple majority of those voting, and is insisting that UCU will not have access to staff to talk about the ballot unless it agrees to be 'locked out' of statutory recognition rights for three years. If you work at Ravensbourne, help us fight back against this union busting by voting for trade union recognition. You can also send messages of solidarity to the Ravensbourne UCU branch.
Sheffield Hallam University: job cuts and pay
UCU has accused the university of pushing ahead with expensive building projects while launching a wholesale attack on staff and students through an unprecedented cuts programme, severely breaching the post-92 contract and national framework, and attacking on working conditions.
The university has said 225 academic jobs will be axed, with up to 80 staff facing compulsory redundancy. Around 140 senior experienced academics have already left following the opening of a voluntary severance scheme in December 2023 and the university is now ploughing ahead with further compulsory job losses.
Cuts come alongside unprecedented breaches of the post-92 national contract that will severely impact research and teaching. The university intends to completely remove the (grade 9) principal lecturer role, force line management responsibilities onto (grade 8) lecturers and create a new teaching (grade 6) 'academic tutor' role.
Update, 3 June 2024: Sheffield Hallam UCU members voted to support strike action (87%) following a successful industrial ballot that closed in May 2024 (turnout 53%). Dates for strike action will be announced in due course.
Update, 9 August 2024: UCU members at Sheffield Hallam University will strike from Monday 23 September 2024 until Thursday 26 September 2024.
Update, 20 September 2024: Strike action planned for 23-26 September has been suspended in the light of an improved offer from SHU's executive board. SHU UCU members will be voting on whether to accept or reject the offer. Click here for the latest news on SHU's dispute.
Update, 6 January 2025: UCU and Sheffield Hallam University are in dispute over university management's failure to implement UCEA's pay increase for eleven months. The ballot opens on 14 January 2025 and will close on 12 February 2025.
University of Sheffield: job cuts
UCU members at University of Sheffield will be balloted from February to March 2025 for industrial action imminently in a dispute over job cuts. Further details will be available soon.
University of Sheffield International College: job cuts
University of Sheffield International College (USIC) has written to staff in the Quality, Student Experience and Former Academic Skills teams informing them that they are at risk of compulsory redundancy. The main rationale for this action is the significant drop in student numbers experienced in the 2024/25 academic year but Study Group (the employer) expect student numbers to recover in the 2025/26 academic year and have described the financial situation as a 'short term gap' in communications to staff. The employer has provided UCU with some limited financial information to support their rationale but have not provided information as to non-staff cost saving measures that they have implemented to try and avoid redundancies at this stage.
UCU opposes all compulsory redundancies and will work with the employer to find alternatives to forcing staff out of their jobs. An industrial action ballot has launched on 6 January 2025 and will close on 27 January 2025.
Update, 29 January 2025: Staff at the University of Sheffield International College (USIC), run by the private company Study Group, voted overwhelmingly to take strike action over job cuts. With a turnout of 72%, 100% of those who voted backed strike action. The result comes after USIC put 36 staff at risk of redundancy by April 2025 in the student support and academic teaching teams. The employer has claimed the cuts are necessary due to a fall in student numbers this academic year, which it says has hit the company's finances, but it has also described the situation as a 'short-term gap' in communications to staff.
Update, 11 February 2025: Staff at USIC will down tools tomorrow in the first of up to ten days of strike action in a fight to protect jobs. Staff will be on picket lines every day of strike action from 08:00-12:00 outside the campus building on Solley Street. The full strike days are:
- Week 1: Wednesday 12 and Friday 14 February
- Week 2: Tuesday 18 and Thursday 20 February
- Week 3: Monday 24, Wednesday 26 and Friday 28 February
- Week 4: Tuesday 4 March and Thursday 6 March
- Week 5: Monday 10 March.
Update, 14 February 2025: Industrial action planned for February 2025 is currently suspended pending further negotiations.
University of Sunderland: threat of redundancies
University of Sunderland has threatened to sack 76 staff, including more than one in 10 academics. The cuts also impact professional services staff. Management intends to force some staff out as soon as Friday 1 November, meaning they would be unemployed going into the Christmas break. This is the second formal notification of redundancies in under six months. In neither this, nor the previous notification, were any management jobs put at risk.
The announcement comes a few months after the university admitted it would shut down the national glass centre, despite a big campaign to save the important regional arts institution. UCU will fight the jobs cuts, which threaten to damage student provision and tarnish the university's reputation.
Update, 8 October 2024: a meeting took place involving representatives from the University of Sunderland, UCU and UNISON. There was continuing agreement on the need to work together, wherever possible, to avoid compulsory redundancies. The university explained how non-staff savings were also being looked at, and the trade unions agreed to consider proposals to put to the Executive as part of the continuing consultation. Further regular meetings are being scheduled.
Update, 13 January 2025: Staff threatened with a restructure by Sunderland University management have been told they cannot tell colleagues they are at risk of losing their jobs. Upon returning from their Christmas break, a small team of academic staff were told they would be restructured and that at least one post would be deleted. However, university management forbade impacted staff from having any 'discussions with students, alumni or colleagues'. Please sign the petition to oppose the University of Sunderland's decision which asks them to lift the ban.
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