UK funding crisis forces three more universities to cut jobs

More English universities have announced cost-cutting drives including redundancy schemes as the sector’s financial crisis takes hold.

The universities of Winchester and Surrey and Queen Mary University of London are the latest to plan restructures, with a strike ballot announced at Northumbria University over its planned cuts to staff numbers.

Sheffield Hallam University has also been accused by the University and College Union (UCU) of breaching the national agreement between the union and employers, reached in 2004, by seeking to get rid of its principal lecturers – paid at grade 9 of the national pay scale – and recruit more academic tutors – paid at grade 6 – as well as to hand line-management responsibilities to grade 8 lecturers for the first time.

“Risk of redundancy” letters have been issued by Hallam to 120 staff members at grade 9 or above, with those affected being given until 18 March to either apply for voluntary redundancy or new roles.

It is the second job-cutting exercise the university has run in a matter of months after it offered voluntary severance to all its 1,700 academic staff at the end of last year, which led to 140 staff leaving, UCU said.

The union’s general secretary, Jo Grady, has written to Liz Mossop, Hallam’s newly installed vice-chancellor, saying: “UCU does not consider it optional for employers to follow the national framework agreement, nor to pick and choose which parts they comply with, and any change to it needs to be made on a national basis by agreement.”

A university spokesperson said some academic and leadership positions were being removed as part of its “change programme”, but it was also creating 120 new posts – such as a new role of associate head of school – which were being ring-fenced for those affected, so it did not anticipate a large reduction in staff numbers.

They said the union’s suggestion that senior members of staff were being replaced by more junior academics was “inaccurate”.

“The academic tutor role is a new entry-level position for those looking to begin their academic careers, and similar roles are used successfully in other universities,” the spokesperson said.

At Winchester, 40 jobs could go after UCU said 249 staff members were put at risk of redundancy, with the changes said to be threatening the future of the university’s Institute for Climate and Social Justice and its Centre of Religion, Reconciliation and Peace.

The climate institute’s director, Robert Beckford, a Bafta award-winning documentary film-maker and Winchester’s only black professor, is one of those whose jobs are at risk.

Cuts are also planned in the areas of psychology, acting and apprenticeships, according to UCU, as the university seeks to close a £6 million deficit.

UCU Winchester was lodging a formal dispute with the university, and a strike ballot “could” open later this month.

“We refuse to allow management to take a wrecking ball to the university and force through cuts that will have devastating consequences for students and staff,” said branch secretary Simon Boxley, a senior lecturer in education at Winchester.

A University of Winchester spokesperson said the figure of 249 staff at risk was “highly inaccurate” and did not reflect its proposals and UCU had been asked to correct it.

Winchester was “considering all cost-saving options” given the financial challenges facing the sector, they added. “Every effort has been made to secure savings through all other means possible, including voluntary severance. Regrettably, we are now consulting on proposals, including up to 40 redundancies, from a staff base of over 900 people. This is not a decision that has been taken lightly, and consultation is ongoing with our recognised trade unions.”

Strikes might also take place at Northumbria University over recently announced plans to slash staff costs by £12.5 million.

UCU – which was seeking to prevent compulsory redundancies – said the university management had backed out of talks with the union this week and it had been left with “no choice” but to call a ballot.

In response, a Northumbria spokesperson said it had made “excellent progress” in securing all the necessary reductions via the removal of vacancies and voluntary severance and was therefore “hopeful” that no compulsory redundancies would be needed.

They said that during the dispute UCU had “made a series of untrue comments that are damaging to the university and misleading for our staff and students”, specifically around course closures and that the university was becoming less welcoming to local students.

“We have asked for those factual inaccuracies to be withdrawn from UCU’s public channels, but they have chosen not to do that, which is deeply disappointing”, the spokesperson added. “We call on them now to do that in order that we can all return to the table to have constructive discussions that are in the best interests of their members.”

UCU regional support official Jon Bryan said: “If Northumbria is willing to commit to not closing any courses, that is something staff would welcome wholeheartedly. We also need management to commit to not making any compulsory redundancies so we can get round the table and resolve this dispute.”

At Surrey, an open letter from campus trade unions said they were “extremely concerned” after a recent all-staff meeting in which, they said, vice-chancellor Max Lu had outlined a voluntary redundancy scheme alongside plans to sell university assets and other cost-cutting exercises as part of efforts to transform a £10 million deficit into a surplus.

A university spokesperson said it was “not immune to the unprecedented financial pressures” facing the sector and it was taking a “focused and nuanced approach” to the challenges, designed to “minimise the impact on our people and our core mission”.

A voluntary severance scheme has also been opened at Queen Mary, in its Faculty of Humanities and Social Science, with applications being particularly encouraged from the Schools of English and Drama and the School of Languages, Linguistics and Film. It has not set a target for the number of staff it needs to take part.

A spokesperson said the university was in a “strong financial position and continues to strategically invest into our world-leading education and research, with the overall number of staff across our university continuing to increase”.

tom.wiliams@timeshighereducation.com