Universities have made cuts 'equivalent to 15,000 jobs'

UNIVERSITIES have announced cuts equivalent to more than 15,000 jobs in the past year, analysis by a union suggests, as it is set to ballot members for strike action.

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The University and College Union (UCU) said the scale of university job cuts has grown since March, when it had said 5,000 jobs had already been cut.

UCU is balloting members over its demands that employer body the Universities & College Employers Association (UCEA) commits to a national agreement to stop redundancies, protects existing national agreements, and makes a higher pay offer.

UCEA offered university staff a 1.4% rise for 2025/26.

In September, UCU said more than 65,000 members across 138 institutions would vote in the coming weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action.

UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “These job losses are not minor, and government must stop treating them as localised incidents.