Staff at Sheffield Hallam University have been informed by the University Executive Board that the university needs to make further savings of £27 million pounds, with £16 million savings coming from job cuts and £8 million coming from changes to staff pensions. The ramifications of the changes to staff pensions go beyond the proposed savings, with UCU requesting further information from UEB. Changes to pensions present a threat that staff may be transferred from direct employment into a subsidiary company.
At a well-attended UCU branch meeting today, an emergency motion was overwhelmingly carried which calls for an immediate ballot of members to undertake a period of sustained industrial action.
The university’s financial decision making remains under intense scrutiny in the light of recent job losses. The branch produced a report into the university’s finances in November 2025 which offers further context for its current proposals of further job losses and cost savings to be borne by staff via changes to pensions. The report can be accessed here: https://ucuhallam.org/sheffield-hallam-ucu-state-of-the-university-report-2025/
The branch does not accept the rationale offered for further job cuts and changes to staff pensions (which are deferred earnings) and demands that the UEB look to other options to make the cost savings they suggest they need.