Redundancies at the University of Birmingham

[supermum52]

Hi everyone,

The University of Birmingham has just announced its voluntary leavers scheme which is quite a generous package. I stand to gain 72,000, 30000 of which is tax-free. I am 52 years of age with two teenagers, aged 13 and 16 who are also very demanding. I am really fed up with the culture of overwork and stress at UoB and have wanted to leave for quite some time. At the same time, it is a well-paying job. The leavers package really tempts me. Any advice on the direction I should take would be appreciated.

It's definitely tempting. What would you want to do afterwards? Continue working in academia somewhere else or do something new?

I have a flat rented so I would live off that for a while and then maybe get back into academia in a different country. Is anyone else considering redundancy at the University of Birmingham?

Wow that would be a tempting offer. Its sounded like a tough place to work for a while (everyone I know there in my area has left or retired).

Thanks. Yes, there is a terribly oppressive atmosphere there. Management are horrible and staff morale is generally very low.

Take it. If you say no you are working for money you could have got for nothing and losing the options for change and adventure.

To be more tax efficient you can ask your solicitor to redirect some of the taxable amount into your pension if you are patient and can wait for it.

Friend is planning to take the package, she's applied for jobs in the civil service (immigration support) and using the money to clear debts which means she can afford to take a drop in salary.

It's really difficult to get another academic job so if you go (and it depends on your subject area) be prepared to do a job outside of academia.

Colleagues in other countries have been mumbling about cuts there too.

I'm not based at Birmingham but friends have gone for voluntary severance elsewhere - one did a post in another Uni after a while.

Yes, I am inclined to take it on the basis that I will probably never get such an opportunity again. Thanks for advice about the pension. Actually, I rang USS and they said that I could only invest some of it into the investment builder not the retirement income builder part (yet the FAQs on the scheme state very clearly that you can invest in either one). Sigh. This must be a mistake.

Has anyone any experience about investing part of a redundancy payment in the pension scheme? What would the tax rebate be?

Good luck whatever you do Supermum. I'm in another University and it's been very strange to lose so many colleagues like this. One day there are there and next minute - pooff- they've left. It's like some sort of academic/professional services rapture 😁.

Sorry, I meant 'they are there' - not enough coffee today

I wouldn't have thought you could invest a lump sum into the DB part of the pension - or that if you could it would only be on very poor terms.

I would be very tempted in your shoes, but I plan to retire at 60 anyway and we could survive on DH's income for those few years.

Don't plan on another job in academia. But that would be quite the payout to turn down.

Thanks for all the well wishes. It is so heartening. I totally think that your comments about a return to academia are valid, but I do not really have any pressing financial pressures. This might serve as a much needed hiatus to reflect on where I want my life to go from now: a type of mid-life pivot.

I will point out to HR that there guidelines are incorrect in relation to the pension.

If this is the same terms as similar offers doing the rounds at UK universities, although they tend to be worded as "mutual", then you may be classed as making yourself unemployed.

Also, they don't have to accept, they've been quite selective about which areas and from where on the payscale they've accepted.

As a PP mentioned, it's only going to get harder to find alternative posts, especially the higher up the pay scale you are.

Have you had advice from an independent financial adviser about any potential detrimental effect on your occupational pension. You need to know how much lower your tax free lump sum and subsequent pension will be due to fewer years of working. I don't know the details of the Uni lecturer's scheme, but I've seen similar situations with other defined benefit schemes where both the tax free lump sum and subsequent pension have been quite a lot lower due to early retirement/redundancy situations. Best to check and make sure you are clear about all aspects.

There is certainly an element of risk. However, there is also the prospect that there might be compulsory redundancies down the line. Better to jump ship now with an attractive package that be stuck with statutory at best in maybe a year´s time. Any thoughts?

I'm not in academia but this makes me so sad.
One of my daughters graduated a few years ago and my other is in her second year.
The lecturers that are able to inspire and educate the most are their older educators that have been invested and interested in their subjects for years.

It forebodes a very sad future for university education in the future.

Sad that it's coming to this 😢

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the yellow-packing of lecturers has a detrimental effect on students education and really demonstrates that, for all their rhetoric, management care little about students. Currently, I would not advise anybody who is not independently wealthy or can rely on an alternative source of support to enter academia. It is not a career for life in the current climate.

Advice to see an IFA sounds smart, but the key thing for me is that you sound like you mostly hate your job just now. If there isn’t a financial pressure, not sure why you would cling on? (Plus surely workload pressure etc only going in one direction if lots of folk take this package…)

Will definitely book an appointment with an IFA. I actually love the work itself- research, teaching and administration and could do it forever. I just hate the constant one upmanship, pettiness and lack of cordiality within the school. I also find that there is an awful lot of favouritism and very uneven distribution of resources. Although I am a grown-up who knows the world is not fair, it still rankles.

But you are right. I have been holding on to the job just waiting for this opportunity since the pandemic.

That's a good deal, and you are unlikely to get better. If anything, redundancy terms get worse over time. You should be able to get an appointment with an IFA through your union if you're in one.

I have taken redundancy in the past, as have a lot of people I know following the 2008 crash, and I don't think any of us regretted it. It's good to use it as a springboard to new things though. I think the people who bought new cars didn't get as much benefit as the people who retrained (although they might disagree).

My one caveat is around much of your identity is tied to being an academic. I'm in academia but not a career academic and will probably move on in the next 5 years or so. For many of my colleagues though, it does seem to be a vocation and I know several who have left academia to later come back on worse conditions.

If you couldn't get another role in academia, or if it was at a lower grade and fixed term, would that be a big deal for you? There are perks to university life, access to networks and information that you don't get elsewhere, and a certain status attached. There are downsides too, of course.

May I ask what terms Brum is currently offering?

Thanks. I would love something fixed term- research associate or another similar post that would grant me autonomy. You are certainly correct that most academics identities are tied to their job because it is a vocation, afterall. However, as I get older, that link is not as strong as it used be. In fact, I value a life-balance and spending time with family more than status/recognition at this point.

If you can deal with the lower pay and fixed term contracts, and the redundancy package would provide a buffer, then I do think a RA is the best role in academia. You can skirt departmental politics and, in the right team, shape your own work. In the wrong team, you can end up being a bit of a skivvy, but the good news is you don't have to stick around.

I totally agree. In the best case scenario, you get unfettered time to dedicate yourself to what you love. Obviously, there is the risk of exploitation, as you mentioned.