From Martin Atkinson | Director of HR & Organisational Development

I am pleased to be able to let you know that the local branch of the UCU has accepted the proposal we made on 23 March and that the local ASOS, including the marking and assessment boycott, has now been brought to an end. You can read our joint statement with UCU for more background on this.

This means that marking and assessment is now resumed as normal, although the national Action Short of a Strike (not including a marking and assessment boycott) remains in place.

Any work that was not assessed during the boycott will now be assessed alongside other work, with Divisions working with their staff to agree on areas to prioritise. We anticipate that all outstanding marking will be completed by Friday 6 May 2022.

We would like to thank our local UCU for their part in the negotiations which have brought the dispute to a close. We would also like to thank those of you who have been providing extra support to students throughout the periods of industrial action.

This year has been particularly difficult for our students, and I want to recognise their patience in the face of the uncertainty and stress caused to them by the ongoing disputes. I sincerely hope that they can now look forward to some stability and certainty as they enter the examination period.

Ongoing negotiations  

I am also conscious of how challenging recent weeks have been for colleagues in Divisions which have been reviewing their activities and which face continued challenges due to national changes in where prospective students’ interests lie.

Whilst no compulsory redundancies have been proposed as part of these reviews and would only ever be considered as a very last resort, we understand that reviews can be unsettling for staff and I hope this agreement will take some of the pressure off while this work continues. I’d also like to thank colleagues for their continued involvement in working collectively on what a positive and sustainable way forward might look like. For the avoidance of any doubt, the commitment made in the joint statement to UCU members also applies to all other staff across the University.

We are also continuing our talks with UCU on the national issues in the hope that we can build on progress in the areas that we can influence at Kent – bearing in mind that many of the issues on the national ballot are out of our control. I will continue to keep you updated on progress with all these issues and hope we can now all concentrate on preparations for the summer term.

With all good wishes,

Martin

Martin Atkinson | Director of HR & Organisational Development