Solid support for strikes as students call on university heads to do more to solve disputes

Striking staff were given a boost this morning as the National Union of Students (NUS) said it backed the walkouts and called on university leaders to work harder to resolve the disputes.

UCU said the support from staff and students was despite efforts from universities this week to disrupt the action, confuse the issues and, in some cases, even bribe their staff to cancel protests. The University of Leicester told staff that it would spread the deductions of 14 days' lost pay for the strikes over three months if staff promised not to protest on campus.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: 'We have been receiving news of solid support for the strikes across the UK. That support sends a clear message to universities that, instead of focusing on silly games and spinning in the run up the walkouts, they should have been working with us to try and sort things out.

'We have been clear that we are always ready to seriously discuss all the issues at the heart of the disputes. Students are understandably unimpressed at the intransigence of their university leaders and have made clear demands today that vice-chancellors and principals work harder to try and resolve the disputes.'

The disputes centre on the sustainability of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and rising costs for members, and on universities' failure to make significant improvements on pay, equality, casualisation and workloads.

Universities UK (UUK - the universities' representatives in the pensions dispute) spent the last week running a consultation on a new offer to make to the union. On Tuesday it declared it was not going to make a new offer.

Meanwhile, the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (Ucea - the universities' representatives in the pay and conditions dispute) said again earlier this week that it would still not talk to the union about the crucial pay element of the dispute.

As well taking to the picket lines, many strikers will be delivering "teach-out" lectures and holding rallies around the country. MPs have been sending messages of support and joining picket lines. A Labour leadership hustings organised by the Guardian in Manchester on Tuesday has been moved from a university venue to Manchester Central because of the strikes. All the latest information is available on the union's wall of action and via Twitter.

The number of universities being hit by the action is the largest since a nationwide two-day strike in 2016, while the number of strike days is unprecedented. Following the eight-day walkout before Christmas, this latest round of 14 strike days means the total number of walkouts will be 22 by March; higher than the previous record of 14 days in 2018.

There are some variations on dates to accommodate things like reading weeks. Eighteen of the 74 branches are tweaking the dates they are on strike. A full list of who is out and when can be found here.

Universities affected by strike action from Thursday 20 February