Update on negotiations re transformation and redundancies
UCU branch negotiators continue to meet regularly with management across a range of fora – JSNCC, sub-JSNCCs, working groups, and dedicated negotiation sessions. In all these efforts, we speak on behalf of our membership and pressure, especially in the form of our industrial action mandate and votes in favour of specific periods of action, are vital in ensuring a constructive and balanced process. The following are the main headlines from recent weeks:
- We secured a delay of implementation of the new Workload Allocation Framework (WAF) to September 2025, allowing for more meaningful consultation in the meantime.
- We secured an extension of the Voluntary Severance (VS) scheme until 9 August, allowing members to make a more informed decision on their future at Kent.
- We pressed management to release extensive information about how School-level staff savings targets were reached (as well as clarity about what happens when VS ends) which should be forthcoming in the first half of this week.
- We pressed management to make greater savings from their own budget (especially within the Executive Group and among leadership of Professional Service departments) to take the burden away from frontline staff. We are hoping to receive an update on this in the very near future.
- We continue to press for greater transparency and clarity on all aspects of the Kent 2030 process, especially the covenants with the lenders which underpin so many of the current cuts and changes. We are optimistic that this will be forthcoming imminently.
- We also continue to press for management and HR to take EDI concerns more seriously, rather than treat them as an afterthought as has been their past practice. The lack of meaningful Equality Impact Assessments on the major transformations currently underway at Kent is appalling and remains one of our principal critiques of the Kent 2030 work.
This negotiation process will continue throughout the summer and please do get in touch with the branch directly (via Matt Howard on m.howard@kent.ac.uk) if there are specific issues which you would like us to raise or if you are able to provide data which will allow us to present the strongest possible case.
Organising to maximise participation and members’ involvement
We hope you have noticed greater communication from the UCU Branch committee since we have re-organised to spread the workload, responsibilities and facility time among more members of the committee. This makes it much easier to cover when someone is sick or otherwise unavailable and to prevent burnout.
We want all of our members to be able to participate and be part of decision-making, so we are also committed to ensuring that other than emergency situations, there is time before all ordinary branch meetings for all of our members to submit motions. You will in future receive calling notices with two weeks’ notice for ordinary meetings and as much notice as we can give for any emergency situations. Calling notices have the date and time of the meeting and a deadline for submission of motions. A second notice will include a copy of all motions submitted and give you time to submit amendments. It is a good idea, if you can, to get a friend or colleague to agree to second the motion or amendment. If the person who wrote the motion agrees, the amendment will be incorporated into the motion.
At meetings, the chair will ensure a balanced discussion with proposers & seconders followed by speeches for and against in turn before the vote.
Motions passed become policy providing the meeting is quorate — that is, it has a minimum number of branch members present. In votes about variation of industrial action there must be 20% participation.
Negotiators for the branch: There is a team of negotiators who now report to the UCU committee and act on decisions made in branch and committee meetings. There will be regular email updates and possibly emergency meetings if needed to discuss the situation as the re-organisation unfolds.
Defending you as an individual member: We use much of our facilities time giving confidential advice and representation to individual members. Trained caseworkers do this. We feed back reoccurring issues or problems in university regulations and policies to the negotiating team. Get in touch if you need help by emailing O.D.Lyne@kent.ac.uk
Elections to national meetings: There will be a call for nominations sent to all members via the UCU-announce mailing list. Come forward if you want to represent us and our policies at conferences and aggregate meetings of the branch. There will be an election at a branch meeting if one is coming up or by e-ballot if needed and candidates will write a short statement of why they want to go so everyone can choose.
Social Media: You can now follow us on X/Twitter @ucuKent and indeed tweet us there!
Transformation and Equality
The UCU committee has written to the acting VC to express our concerns re issues of equality in the transformation process. We feel the Equality Impact Assessments, despite some training for managers, are not adequate and not built into the process early enough; without the involvement of key stakeholders and without resources identified to mitigate equality impacts. Our negotiators will be following up these issues and where necessary the branch will seek legal advice. Elane, Flora and Trude together lead on this topic in the UCU Committee
We are aware that there is a fundamental issue at the heart of a university in crisis—that process towards the genuine inclusion of groups who face discrimination requires resources and expansion of available opportunities and not simply tokenistic actions. We cannot agree to sign off on any process of transformation that impacts any section of our membership disproportionately.
Among concerns we have currently identified are:
Targeting a particular grade for redundancy: Could create unlawful age and gender/sex discrimination and other possible discriminations because of the structure of employment in HE. Meanwhile those who are left will face increased workloads and flattened pay structures with fewer opportunities for research and publication.
Cutting back on research: Will doubtless lead to disproportionate impact on Black and Minority Ethnic; women; disabled and LGBT+ academics because research has repeatedly demonstrated that it takes many more years to be published and promoted for these groups. Increased teaching loads will significantly cut back on the possibility of time to research and write up, to attend conferences and network. The impact will also be felt by carers and parents.
Hidden discrimination affecting promotion and retention in an atmosphere of redundancies and impossible workloads: everyone who is not able to put in extra work faces the possibility of being seen as less effective in selection processes. We have already dealt with cases of promotion being refused to disabled staff deemed not to have sufficiently meet criteria such as attending conferences and we are aware of fear among carers, parents, those with health conditions and those traditionally less included in HE about being subject to selection as well as amongst older, more established “more expensive” workers.
Halting progress in the curriculum and the academy: the impact on production of knowledge: The research that has driven forward equality, diversity, and inclusion in HE is deeply under threat by the financial crisis in universities including ours. Course closures remove students and the nature of the universities most under threat mean that Black and minority ethnic, working class and disabled students are highly likely to be the biggest losers while loss of research time will undermine the research that has driven forward organisation for de-colonisation and equality.
How can all this change? We are all too aware that an institution in crisis cannot mitigate all of these impacts. However, our demands for a slimmer EG urgently could finance some mitigation of these impacts going forward. Greater attention to these issues now could lead to less inequality in how we move forward, and our negotiators will push for this. Ultimately, the national UCU needs to build a mass campaign, led by the branches facing mass redundancies, to end the destruction of HE, especially by putting pressure on the Labour government, which has made some pledges to stabilise HE finance. We are writing to the union’s National Executive Committee to request such a campaign is urgently launched as voted for at the national congress in May. We are also teaming up with London region to organise an event on this.
Branch wide equality event: An event in September will allow us all, every member of Kent UCU, to think together about how to save equality. If you want to be involved in presenting or planning the event, contact Elane Heffernan, the branch equality officer: elaneheffernan@btinternet.com
Advice for disabled PhD student members: UCU caseworkers have dealt with some PhD student members, often also working, who have been subject to disability discrimination because they have not been provided with reasonable adjustments or study aids. The university has a duty to provide its workers and students with reasonable adjustments. Disabled PhD students have a number of routes to funding for their disability needs, as well as needs that can be met via some changes in how things are done which might not cost anything other than effort or training and which the university has a duty to provide in all cases.
There are various routes to get any necessary funding for PhD funding: on taught programmes a Disabled Student Allowance is available from Student Finance to all those who are eligible for student funding, students with an NHS bursary can apply for DSA to the NHS. If your PhD is funded by a research council award, then DSA comes via that funding provider and is usually, but not always, provided on the same basis as the main student finance DSA funding. International students need to meet residence requirements but may be able to get funding from bursaries and charity funders if needed.
If you have a long-term health, or disability need and are a member of the UCU, please do not suffer silently until you feel your PhD is under threat but get in touch for caseworker support as above.