In early June 2026, 25 academic staff across four Institutes were informed that they were at risk of compulsory redundancy, the group included UCU members and union representatives. These members identified and reported several issues with the consultation and scoring process, such as:
- Several changes were made to the person specification and scoring criteria.
- Attendees to the scoring support workshops held by HR reported contradictory information.
- Members reported that no rationale was provided for the selection pools. In some areas, people with substantively similar roles did not hold the same ‘at risk’ status.
- Members reported that the behaviour of management and HR representatives in consultation meetings was obstructive, evasive and, in some cases, unprofessional.
- Where members reported disabilities, no tangible plans for reasonable adjustments were offered.
On the 29th June 2026, in an email sent at 17:29, ‘At risk’ groups were updated following the targeted VR process. Those still at risk of redundancy were scored against criteria that did not match the wording of their job descriptions/person specification, in a desk-based assessment.
Over the course of this process, UCU Committee took the following actions to address members’ concerns:
- Sent a letter to the Executive Dean of College for Social Science and Arts and the Head of Institute for Law and Social Sciences requesting urgent clarification of the rationale for CR in Law and Criminology based on student numbers, prospective recruitment, and workload requirements (06.06.26)
- Successfully challenged the plans to require all ‘at risk’ staff to apply against an updated Grade 8 job description that had not been reviewed in a meaningful consultation.
- Repeatedly raised the ongoing and multiple issues during the VR consultation and scoring process in meetings with management and HROD, which included concerns around EDI.
- Outlined the range of issues throughout the consultation and scoring process in person to the Vice Chancellor during the open conversation on 29/06/26.
- Sent a letter to Vice Chancellor outlining our concerns around the scoring and moderation process for making CR decisions (29.07.26).
- Provided on-going casework support for members throughout the process.
- Met with senior management on multiple occasions to stress the ways in which we felt their actions were breaching our 12th June agreement.
Beyond these specific actions from the UCU Committee, affected staff were met with a wave of solidarity from the broader UCU membership. If you attended a picket line, withdrew your labour, or offered support to an affected colleague, thank you! You are the union!