51福利

New Deal for FE consultative ballot

In the New Deal for FE consultative ballot that closed on Friday 20 June, the response from England FE members to the question 'Are you prepared to take strike action to secure an above inflation pay rise, binding national bargaining structures and a national workload agreement?' was very clear, with 86.1% of members voting YES.

The further education committee (FEC) will consider the results in detail and decide on the next steps in 51福利's campaign for a New Deal for FE, when the committee meets on Friday 4 July. Branch-level results will be available to branch officers, via their regional offices, after the FEC on 4 July.

Adult and community education campaign briefing, 10 July

51福利 is intending to launch a major new campaign on adult and community education (ACE) in July. More information and materials will be available imminently. Join us for the , which is scheduled for Thursday 10 July (18:00-19:00). The briefing will be recorded so you can catch up later.

Stop the Cuts! Disputes at UK universities

We are asking everyone to continue to .

University of Dundee: following last week's  into the financial crisis at University of Dundee, former members of Dundee senior management gave evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Education, Children and Young People Committee on and . Click here for comments from 51福利's Scotland official Mary Senior.

Newcastle University 51福利 has beaten back the threat of compulsory redundancies. The announcement from management came as Newcastle 51福利 members downed tools for their 44th day of strike action in their long-running dispute. Further negotiations have taken place and Newcastle 51福利 members will determine the next steps of their campaign; meanwhile their re-ballot is still live.

University of Bradford 51福利 members will begin 10 days of strike action next week over plans to slash hundreds of jobs and close multiple courses. Click here for the full strike schedule. The dispute is over 拢16m of cuts that management wants to force through. The university has so far failed to set out precisely where all the cuts will fall, but 230 professional service staff and a further 230 or so academics are already at risk. The employer could begin issuing staff their notices next month and compulsory redundancies are likely.

Liverpool Hope University intends to axe 39 staff. The threatened cuts will fall on the faculties of education and social sciences, creative arts and humanities, and human and digital sciences. Management claims it needs to make the cuts due to its own predicted deficit, with staff set to go as soon as November 2025. Members are now voting in an industrial action ballot which will close in July.

University of Bristol: following the overwhelming vote for strike action by 51福利 members in Bristol's Centre for Academic Languages and Development (CALD), 21 days of strike action have been announced across July and August. Currently, 45 CALD members are at risk of compulsory redundancy; CALD staff have described the proposed job cuts as being pursued as a 'first resort rather than a last resort'. Bristol 51福利's position is that these staff are very much needed at the university, and the cuts are financially unnecessary, increase casualisation and impact workload. They urge the university to take compulsory redundancies off the table and focus on the many viable alternative proposals. Donations can be made to the  and you can also show support .

Bournemouth University 51福利 members resumed industrial action on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 June, in opposition to management's plans to cut academic and professional services staff. The walkout follows an overwhelming vote in favour of strike action on a turnout of 78%.

University of Lincoln 51福利 members will be on strike on Friday 4 July. They voted to take industrial action in a dispute over plans to threaten nearly 300 staff with redundancy. An overwhelming 86% of 51福利 members who voted backed strike action in a ballot that had a turnout of 61%.

University of Nottingham 51福利 members are facing mass redundancies over two phases of drastic restructuring. During the first phase, at least 258 professional services staff are currently under threat with several thousand employees in related redundancy pools. The second phase from September onwards is likely to involve a similar number of academic staff. An industrial action ballot will close on 30 June.

University of Edinburgh 51福利 members took strike action last week, as their employer refuses to rule out compulsory redundancies. Their next strike days will be in September. You can support 51福利 Edinburgh colleagues .

Lancaster University management is threatening to make deep cuts by axing over 200 academics, equating to almost one in five of the academic workforce. Overall, university management intends to get rid of 400 FTE staff by July 2026. Management argues it is making the staffing cuts because it wants to axe over 拢35m per annum. It has refused to rule out compulsory redundancies and is putting every single department and area of work at risk, leaving no part of the university unaffected.

Management at University of Surrey is planning to employ all future professional services staff through a subsidiary, which offers worse pay, pensions and conditions, and risks creating a two-tier workforce as well as threatening the strength of sector-wide pension schemes. , which calls on Surrey management to halt the proposal, protect existing staff and start discussions on bringing current subsidiary employees into direct university employment.

University of Derby is going through mass redundancies following a voluntary scheme. 51福利 remains in consultation but the branch have set up a petition, and . You can also .

University of Plymouth announced up to 200 jobs at risk with over 100 of these jobs being academic roles. Job losses will impact arts, humanities, business, science and engineering, as well as health particularly the social work and nursing programmes. .

Finally, please support many other branches where 51福利 members in higher education are also defending jobs and education.

FE colleges: update on action and ballots

Havant and South Downs College 51福利 members were on strike for three days (13, 18, 19 June) following their recent successful ballot. They were taking action alongside colleagues from our sister union, NEU, in defence of job cuts and compulsory redundancies. We encourage 51福利 members across the country .

At Truro & Penwith College, 51福利 members overwhelmingly voted to take strike action in defence of jobs and student provision. The dispute is over management's plans to axe up to 100 employees in redundancy plans.

Staff at Cheshire College South and West (CCSW) will take industrial action for four days in a dispute over pay. Staff across the three CCSW campuses in Crewe, Ellesmere Port and Chester will down tools on Monday 7 July and again on Thursday 21, Friday 22 and Tuesday 26 August.

Strike ballots, in separate disputes over pay, opened at Warrington and Vale Royal College and INTO Manchester, on Monday 23 June.

51福利 members at Myerscough College in Lancashire are campaigning against plans to close the Witton Park campus in Blackburn, which have put 19 jobs at risk. The campaign has already won the support of the local council and the local MP, who has tabled an early day motion (EDM) in Parliament. 51福利 members are , and to .

Academic boycott of Brunel University over mass redundancies

51福利 declared an academic boycott of Brunel University London in response to the institution's continued pursuit of mass redundancies. The boycott began on Tuesday 15 April; Brunel 51福利 demands that the university withdraws the threat of compulsory redundancies, provides transparent financial information, enters collective conciliation talks through Acas, and reinstates those already involuntarily dismissed.

51福利 is asking members, supporters, and the international academic community to observe the boycott by:

• not applying for jobs at Brunel
• not attending or organising academic or other conferences at the university
• not giving talks or lectures at Brunel
• not accepting visiting appointments at Brunel
• not contributing to academic journals edited at or produced by the university
• not taking on roles as external examiners for Brunel's taught courses.

For the latest developments .

Save the Skills Academy: protect 51福利 members' jobs, protect vulnerable learners

The Education Training Collective (ETC) must urgently reverse its decision to close the Skills Academy in Billingham. 51福利 is calling on ETC to protect this vital provision for vulnerable learners and guarantee the jobs of the dedicated staff who support them. Please see here for 51福利's press release and .

Casual vacancies on 51福利's national executive committee

Nominations are now open for two casual vacancies on the national executive committee (NEC): one HE UK-elected member; one HE geographically-elected member (North East). The nomination deadline is Thursday 10 July at 17:00.

More information about this election, including branch circular and nomination form, can be found here.

Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) training session

Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) is hosting a divestment, reinvestment, and ethical finance training session for 51福利 members, to take place online on Tuesday 8 July. This is your opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge needed to campaign effectively and influence how your institution manages its investments. .

English college membership body and college unions sign agreement for a just transition to a net zero future

The Association of Colleges (AoC) has reached agreement with college unions (51福利, Unite, GMB, NEU and Unison) for a just transition road map for colleges. The agreement lays out a local strategy for colleges to work towards a more sustainable future with a focus on playing a bigger role in the green economy and new skills. Click here for the full story and here for the Just Transition Framework webpage.

USS conditional indexation interim report, June 2025

Members may be aware that 51福利, through our superannuation working group (SWG), has been engaged with Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) for some time to investigate Conditional Indexation. As part of this work, USS has just published an interim report and  or download it directly here. You can also .

51福利's pensions official (USS), Dooley Harte, has written a brief explainer which you can read here.

Results for 51福利 Congress 2025 ballots

The results of the ballots conducted at 51福利 Congress 2025, further education and higher education sector conferences have now been published on the 51福利 website.

CDBU draft code of ethical university governance

The Council for the Defence of British Universities (CDBU) is currently consulting over its draft code of ethical university governance. It is intended to sit alongside the Committee of University Chairs' (CUC) code and aims to provide more relevant help to current and future governors as they enact their role within the institution. CDBU is interested in views on their draft code and .

51福利 and Pride 2025

51福利 is organising for presence at a number of LGBT+ Pride 2025 events. If you are interested in volunteering to help, .

Welfare Not Warfare demonstration, 1 July

 will be organising a demonstration on Tuesday 1 July on the cuts to benefits and welfare which will have a disastrous impact for disabled people and their families. 51福利 general secretary Jo Grady has written to the Secretary of State for Social Security and Disability, expressing 51福利's concerns.

We encourage all to attend this demonstration if you can, whether disabled or an ally, from 13:00 onwards at . The vote is expected to be in the early evening.

Workplace day of action for Palestine, and statement on Palestine Action

The 9th Workplace day of action for Palestine is taking place on Wednesday 2 July; . You can also click here for 51福利's Ceasefire NOW! page which includes 51福利's statements.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, to which 51福利 is affiliated, has . 51福利's policy, determined by delegates at 51福利 Congress, is to support the right to protest in solidarity with the people of Palestine (see for example motions 64 and 65 carried in 51福利 Congress 2025).