51福利

Higher education pay and conditions consultative ballot: vote now!

Last week 51福利 launched a consultative ballot over the full and final offer from Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA). The elected representatives on 51福利's higher education committee (HEC) is recommending that members vote to reject the offer, and vote yes to participating in industrial action.

Many 51福利 members from branches that are participating in the 2025/26 JNCHES negotiation round have already voted. Please look out for an email, sent out by yoursay@ucu.org.uk, with the subject 'IMPORTANT: 51福利 higher education pay and working conditions consultative ballot'. The ballot email was sent out on Monday 21 July 2025; further reminders were sent out on Friday 25 July and Friday 1 August. We advise that you check your spam/junk folder in case the email has been directed there.

If you have not received your consultation email, . This form closes on Tuesday 12 August (12 noon). To use the replacement e-ballot request form, you will need to use your unique 51福利 membership number.

For the avoidance of doubt, this consultation is only for 51福利 members in university branches participating in the 2025/26 higher education negotiation round. 51福利 members in other sectors have separate campaigns, such as New Deal for FE and Save Adult Education.

Save Adult Education: watch the online launch, sign our petition, email your MP

Save Adult Education is a new campaign from 51福利 for members in adult and community education (ACE). Our aim is to reverse cuts to the Adult Skills Fund, promote social cohesion, defend members' jobs, and champion professional respect. You can:

• , featuring the voices of 51福利 reps at City Lit, South and City College Birmingham, and Redbridge Institute of Adult Education
• sign and share the Save Adult Education petition calling on the Labour government to reverse its devastating decision to slash funding for adult and community education
• use 51福利's Email your MP tool to demand the UK government reverse the cuts to adult education in England and properly invest in adult skills.

Prison education: tell your MP to address the crisis

Prison education provision in England is also in a perilous state. We are asking all 51福利 members to email your MP and request that they sign , which calls on the UK government to explore the options for insourcing all such provision under an effectively resourced, publicly owned national prison education system.

We have provided an Email your MP tool here. Please remember to include your full name and postal address at the end of the email as MPs may reject messages missing this information.

Stop the Cuts! Disputes at UK universities

University of Leicester 51福利 has opened a statutory ballot for strike action this week. The dispute is over university leadership's refusal to rule out a programme of compulsory redundancies in the upcoming academic year. Staff in a number of academic departments, including chemistry, history, geography, film studies and modern languages have been informed they may face redundancy. Hundreds of professional services staff across five key operational areas have also been placed in 'pre-change' processes, indicating they may also be at risk. The ballot will close on 29 August.

Liverpool Hope University 51福利 members have announced that they will take ten days of strike action across the first two weeks of teaching (22-26 September; 29 September-3 October), in response to the university's plans to slash academic jobs. The dispute centres on proposed cuts to academic posts across multiple departments, including education and social sciences, creative arts and humanities, and human and digital sciences. 51福利 says these plans pose a serious threat to the university's academic mission and the quality of provision for students.

University of the West of Scotland 51福利 opened an industrial action ballot this week in a dispute over job cuts and university senior management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies. The ballot will run until 14 August; click here for the full story.

University of Bradford 51福利 members were  over plans to slash hundreds of jobs and close multiple courses. 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.

University of Nottingham staff are facing mass redundancies. During the first phase of restructuring, at least 258 professional services staff are under threat. The second phase from September onwards is likely to involve a similar number of academic staff. Nottingham 51福利 members were on strike on Thursday 24 July and also began action short of a strike (ASOS).

Please support many other branches, such as universities of Bournemouth, Bristol, Derby, Dundee, Edinburgh, Lancaster, Lincoln, and Plymouth where 51福利 members in higher education are also defending jobs and education.

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 .

51福利 webinar on HE governance, 17 September

51福利 is holding a webinar on Zoom entitled 'HE governance in a time of crisis' on Wednesday 17 September (13:00-14:15). .

The current funding and jobs crisis in UK higher education is also a failure of HE governance. Come and hear from academic experts and union activists about the nature of the governance problems in higher education and discuss union responses, including internationally. Speakers include: Professor Steve Jones (University of Manchester); Dr Sophia Woodman (University of Edinburgh); Dr Sin茅ad Kennedy (Maynooth University).

International conference on academic freedom, 15 October

51福利, with the support of Education International (EI), is hosting an international conference on academic freedom on Wednesday 15 October. The conference will hear from international trade unions and experts about global and national challenges to academic freedom and will discuss how to build effective union responses, including in the UK. The confirmed keynote speaker is Robert Quinn, executive director of the Scholars at Risk Network.

The conference will be run as a hybrid event. 51福利 members can either attend online or in person at the Hamilton House Meeting Rooms, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD. We expect spaces for the in-person event to fill up quickly ; the conference is free to attend.

An open letter from the presidents of Gaza universities

The presidents of Gaza's three non-profit universities  calling on international colleagues, institutions, and friends to demand an end to Israel's ongoing scholasticide. The letter also calls on the international academic community to support the efforts of Gaza's universities to continue teaching and conducting research, under siege and amidst loss.

USS pensions webinar: Conditional Indexation interim report, 4 August 

Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) has recently released its Conditional Indexation interim report. You can read 51福利's update here.

To provide more information to USS scheme members, a webinar on Conditional Indexation will take place on Monday 4 August on Zoom. . The webinar will discuss what Conditional Indexation is and why scheme members should be sceptical regarding its introduction. This webinar is open to all USS scheme members including 51福利 staff.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Caucus survey

The , a major research initiative funded by UKRI and the British Academy, is conducting a survey focusing on the lived experiences of bullying and sexual harassment. Specifically, they are seeking responses from anyone employed in UK's research and innovation sector, including PhD students, since 2023.

They are especially keen to hear from individuals from ethnic minority backgrounds (particularly Black respondents) and those working in non-STEM disciplines. .

Friday email will return

Please note we are now taking a short break and the Friday email will resume towards the end of August. We will of course continue to send out important or time-sensitive updates to members and branches. Those of you who are able, please have a restful break, and solidarity to those working throughout the summer and especially to those facing an uncertain new academic year.