Redundancies at your university?

[Oh2beatsea]

Are any of you working at one of the many universities that are struggling financially?
Our university announced the financial pressure it's under recently and they are now talking about redundancies. I know a few in the sector are in a similar position and wondered what stage you might be at and how has the process been managed? Have they offered voluntary redundancy first or have they gone straight to compulsory redundancies?
Unsettling times.

Where is your university?

VS happening at Loughborough. £20m shortfall in income. Everyone awaiting details..

After going through several rounds of voluntary severance over the past year, my university has now announced a significant number of job cuts across all faculties. They are also trying to change the rules of the game - no research time and many more hours in the classroom. It's all a bit depressing.

Been through a VS round with further measures to follow. I'm prof services staff. Not yet sure of how close the axe is to my head, but I wanted to express solidarity with academic colleagues. So many excellent people being dispensed with - it's so unrelated to how hard you've worked and the contribution you've made. I don't feel I have the same degree of personal investment in my work, so apart from the financial terror, it wouldn't hurt as much on a personal level.

Let us hope that does not catch on. Situation everywhere seems pretty dire but to have to go back to the NHS -well, like you there is a reason I left. How awful for those 2 lecturers and the students.

VS has been available where I am for around a year and will continue until next year. Lots of experienced staff are leaving and not being replaced. Meanwhile they push recruitment up and lower entry criteria so workload is doubling and non-stop. I did not realise how bleak it is everywhere. Ours have recently announced they miscalculated and need to make double the original savings so CR could be round the corner.

Apparently our international recruitment is even worse than they thought it was going to be so I’m almost certain that once our VS round ends, there will be CR.

VS scheme announced where I work too. Long wait to hear if you apply, then they have said everyone will finish end of November. As most jobs start September, it is all a bit odd.

Waiting to hear about word from numerous brilliant close friends, about which of them is being made redundant at Goldsmiths, news delivered tomorrow. I can't believe it has come to this.

It’s awful isn’t it, and that they have told some of them already and the others are only hearing tomorrow.

its terrible for the staff, but also for those PhD students who’s supervisors are being made redundant

It's awful for everyone.

Out of interest, what terms are people being offered? Ours is 2-4 months pay depending on length of service, but elsewhere a friend is getting double your notice period (which would be 6 months for most academics I think).

At my place is was 2.5 weeks’ pay for each full year of service (up to a max of 52 weeks or something like £95k, whichever was lower)

Redundancy at my "top ten" midlands based campus university is the statutory redundancy pay with your actual salary used rather than the £700 cap. So those earning about £37,000 get an enhancement. Last time they did voluntary severance it was very generous but I don't think anyone is expecting it to be generous this time given the state of the sector and the need to save money.

Ours is 6 months salary in the current vss round.

A month for every year up to six months salary. Oddly enough loads of admin/professional services have taken it and happily got equally well paid jobs elsewhere. Don’t blame them.

Our VS was extremely generous last time around. I have a feeling that it won't be quite so good this time given the need to save money.

We are on our second or third round of VS (with some CR in between and more threatened) and each time the scheme is less generous. Dire.

Our VS is 6 months pay regardless of length of service etc

And yet we are hiring 10 permanent lecturers or senior lecturers! I don’t know if financial troubles are university-specific or because we are sciences

As a PhD student I've pretty much discounted any sort of academic career post PhD. I see some set off on successful careers, however they are the ones who seem able to move countrywide or abroad for positions and who are younger.

My friend got a years salary in 2021. Another friend got 30k, he was on around 50k in 2022. Different Universities. He had been there since 2002 and the other had been there for around 35 years.

I'd bite someone's hand off for a year's salary!

Universities face cash ‘catastrophe’ with threat of mergers and course cuts

www.thetimes.com/article/68df67f7-5a11-4ccc-b6fc-82df6305fc8a?shareToken=bf8f47e21338627460dc38c9d961def8

A years salary is ridiculous though and way more than you would get through redundancy. They are supposed to be a cost saving measure.

Ours is imminent. I’m expecting the same as redundancy to be on offer.

If a year’s salary was on offer I’d be seriously tempted were it not for the difficulty of getting another equivalent level job when the money ran out. But if I were closer to retirement then I would jump at it.