The Friday email: 11 April 2025

Protect Education NOW: UCU national rally in London, Saturday 10 May

Post-16 education is in crisis. It is our duty to bring together UCU members, workers from across the trade union movement, students, supporters, and activists to fight back against cuts, attacks in the media, financial mismanagement, and the erosion of professional pride.

We have a month to go until the national rally that will take place on Saturday 10 May in Central London for us to all come together like never before.

Whether you work, study, or want to actively support higher education, further education, prison education, or adult and community education--please join us on Saturday 10 May so we can stand united calling on the Labour government, employers, and public bodies to urgently invest and change their approach.

The countdown begins now, and you can play your part by:

• letting us know that you are intending to come (you are not required to fill out this form to come but doing so will help with the planning work done by UCU staff)
• downloading our materials from the Protect Education NOW webpage
• changing your social media profile picture in solidarity
• spreading the word among colleagues and friends.

On Saturday 10 May, we will meet at Bessborough Gardens, just off Millbank in Central London at 13:00, and will then march to Old Palace Yard, opposite the House of Parliament for speeches and rally cries from special guests and supporters from 14:00 to 16:00.

With so much at stake this is sure to be an important and special day--make sure you are part of it!

Stop the Cuts: Education Committee session on HE funding

UCU general secretary Jo Grady gave oral evidence at the Education Committee's session 'Higher education and funding', chaired by Helen Hayes, Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood, on Tuesday 8 April. You can watch highlights from UCU's contributions on YouTube, watch the full recording of the Education Committee session on parliamentlive.tv, or read the full transcript here.

This follows the Westminster Hall debate on the 'Impact of university finances on jobs in higher education' that took place on Wednesday 2 April. You can watch highlights from that debate on YouTube, watch the full recording of the debate on parliamentlive.tv (from 14:30:00 onwards), or read the full transcript on Hansard.

It is vital that we build upon this support from MPs for our Stop the Cuts: Fund Higher Education NOW! campaign, and continue to make our demand for urgent intervention to address the crisis in higher education heard.

We are also asking everyone to continue to sign and share UCU's Stop the Cuts petition.

Industrial action and ballots at UK universities

Members at Brunel University of London UCU continued their strike action this week. The dispute at Brunel arose over management's original plans to make 135 academic staff redundant.

Commenting on the establishment of a University of Dundee strategic advisory taskforce, UCU's Scotland official Mary Senior said: 'This is a welcome announcement from the Scottish Government; UCU's Dundee branch has been calling for such a taskforce to be established for some time now. It's vital that there is meaningful involvement from campus trade unions in this group, and that it works at speed to save jobs and education, and to ensure that the University moves forward as a successful institution for the future'. The announcement came after the University of Dundee said that planned job cuts could exceed 700 workers.

Keele University UCU members have voted to take strike action in a dispute over the employer's plans to make £2.25m staffing cuts in the humanities, social sciences and business. On a turnout of 55%, 75% of UCU members backed strike action and 89% backed action short of a strike (ASOS). Strike action is now set to take place on Monday 28 April, Tuesday 29 April, Thursday 1 May, Tuesday 6 May and Thursday 8 May. 

This follows strong ballot results from Cardiff (64% turnout), Sheffield (57% turnout) and Durham (64% turnout). In the next weeks we are expecting results from Kent and Birmingham City University (BCU).

Meanwhile, a strike ballot opened at University of Edinburgh on Monday 7 April in a dispute over management's threats of £140m of cuts and failure to rule out compulsory redundancies. A strike ballot will also open imminently at University of Bradford over plans to axe at least 300 jobs that will see chemistry and film and television courses shut down.

Finally, please support the following branches where UCU members in higher education are also continuing to defend jobs and education, for example:

Bangor, Bedfordshire, Bournemouth, Canterbury Christ Church, Cardiff Met, Derby, Kingston, Lincoln, UEA, Newcastle, Sheffield Hallam.

UCU members in Northern Ireland FE colleges vote to take strike action

Following broken promises by the Minister for the Economy, and the employers' inaction over workload, lecturers in NI colleges voted for industrial action. In a resounding result 98% voted for ASOS and 90% for strike action. ASOS has begun from Friday 11 April to include the following:

• Withholding assessment and exam marks from College systems and Awarding Bodies (EBS Markbook, Canvas or Other). Assessment and feedback to students will continue but marks will not be entered onto college systems or provided to Awarding Bodies
• Withdrawal of goodwill
• Working to contract
• No overtime
• Refusal to engage in Additional Duties outside of those quantified in the agreed programme of work and/or local agreement
• Continuous non-cooperation with ETI inspections
• Continuous non-use of the EBS system, registers will be maintained in other formats.

New Deal for FE: pay claim 2025-26

UCU has reached agreement with the other further education trade unions (GMB, NEU, Unite and Unison) on this the Joint FE trade unions' pay claim (2025/26) and it has been submitted to the Association of Colleges (AoC). You can click here to read the full claim here.

The claim is built on the core demands in the New Deal for FE campaign:

• FE pay parity with schoolteachers' pay
• national workload agreements
• a new binding national bargaining framework.

Dates for the pay talks under the National Joint Forum (NJF) are currently being canvassed with the AoC.

Coventry University: sign the petition!

Coventry University staff and students have been protesting against the fire and rehire cost cutting exercise that vice-chancellor John Latham has embarked upon. You can continue to help Coventry UCU's campaign by signing the petition demanding Latham's removal from his government appointed non-executive post on the board of the Department for Business and Trade. The petition now has almost 4,000 signatures, and you can add yours here.

Overwhelming vote of no confidence in Truro and Penwith College principal

Staff have called on the Truro and Penwith College management to stop the threat of compulsory job cuts after delivering an overwhelming vote of no confidence. In a ballot organised by UCU and its sister campus unions, 95.6% of UCU members said they have no confidence in Truro and Penwith's principal Martin Tucker and the senior management team to manage the finances of the college. In addition to the vote of no confidence 73.6% of UCU members said they would be prepared to take strike action in order to prevent compulsory redundancies. 

UCU Congress and sector conferences 2025

The union's supreme policy-making body is its annual Congress, which is taking place in Liverpool from Saturday 24 to Monday 26 May. Please note that this year's Congress is in a hybrid format, so delegates could attend in-person or online. The deadline for the registration of delegates is Wednesday 23 April (17:00).

Congress includes separate annual meetings of UCU's further and higher education sector conferences, where policies particular to those areas are decided. You can click here for more information and motions to be debated will also be available on that page.

Calling all UCU prison educators

UCU is partnering with Education Support on a project about the health and wellbeing of prison educators. You can participate in two ways:

• we are asking you to complete an anonymous survey which takes approximately 15 minutes
• join a focus group session--you will receive a £30 voucher as compensation for your time and you can sign up here.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Angela Nartey or Maxine Looby.

Ofsted consultation

Ofsted is consulting on proposed reforms to its inspection process in the further education and skills sector. Proposed changes include the introduction of report cards alongside new evaluation areas; a new inspection toolkit; and a new methodology for inspection. We are compiling a UCU response to these significant reforms and would welcome any comments or reflections you may wish to contribute. Please submit any comments to Angela Nartey by Monday 14 April.

UCU reasonable adjustment survey

We are aiming to gain an understanding of your experiences with reasonable adjustments at work from both the perspectives of UCU members and branch representatives who support disabled UCU members. We kindly ask that you complete our brief survey to share your insights; this survey will close on Wednesday 16 April.

Academic-related, professional services staff open meeting

The academic-related professional services staff (ARPS) committee will be holding the next open meeting on Friday 9 May (12:30-13:30). ARPS members are invited to join the meeting to talk about the issues affecting you and your branches currently. The format is open and friendly and all ARPS members are welcome. Please register for the meeting using this online form and a Zoom link will be sent to you on the morning of the meeting.

UCU LGBT+ research conference 2025

The UCU LGBT+ research conference will take place on Friday 16 May. This hybrid conference will be in-person at University of Manchester or online via zoom. Registration closes on Tuesday 15 April.

Supporting members' wellbeing amid cuts and workload pressures

The ongoing crisis in higher education--job losses, cuts and course closures--is having a devastating impact on our members. Across both HE and FE, increasing workload pressures are taking a serious toll on mental health and wellbeing.

We know that many members are struggling, and it is vital they have access to the support they need. Education Support is the only UK charity dedicated to the mental health and wellbeing of teachers, lecturers and education staff across schools, colleges and universities.

They offer confidential, 24/7 support, 365 days a year, including a free helpline, counselling services and financial assistance. Click here for more information or to access support.

Friday email will return

There will be no Friday email for Good Friday, 18 April 2025. The Friday email will return on 25 April 2025.

We hope everyone has a restful break.