Sheffield staff back more strikes over compulsory redundancy risk

Staff at the University of Sheffield have voted to go back on strike after managers refused to rule out compulsory redundancies.

Sixty-eight per cent of University and College Union members who took part in the ballot voted to walk out, with turnout beating the 50 per cent threshold required for industrial action.

The vote was called over a review of several academic departments which UCU fears will lead to restructuring and redundancies.

Union members have downed tools several times in the past year after executives said Sheffield needed to save £23 million, a figure which UCU believes could equate to more than 400 jobs going.

The last round of strike action, across November and December, was called off after 16 days when managers ruled out compulsory redundancies for the remainder of 2025.

But relations soured again at the start of this year when Sheffield said it would deduct three weeks’ pay from academics who refused to reschedule teaching missed during the walkout, in addition to the wages docked for the strike action.

Jo Grady, UCU’s general secretary and a former Sheffield lecturer, said that the relationship between managers and staff was “at an all-time low”.

“The senior management team now needs to stop trying to force through cuts and begin meaningful negotiations. If it refuses to do so, we will be forced to return to picket lines,” she said.

The dispute comes as Sheffield battles financial challenges driven by a sharp drop in international student fee revenue. The university, which posted a £11.5 million deficit in its latest accounts, was approached for comment. Previously it said it would work with unions to avoid compulsory redundancies “wherever possible”.

The city’s other university could also face strikes, with UCU members at Sheffield Hallam University opposing what the union branded a “complete gutting” of the institution and calling a ballot for industrial action.

Sheffield Hallam has announced plans to move teaching-focused academics’ contracts to a subsidiary company, removing them from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme over concerns about the cost of employer contributions and moving them on to the cheaper Local Government Pension Scheme. The union also fears up to 200 academic job losses and changes to terms and conditions, as managers seek to save £26.6 million.

Grady said that members at Sheffield Hallam were “outraged” by managers’ plan to “slash pension benefits, tear up local and national agreements and divide the workforce”.

“The changes are an attack on learning and working conditions and must be stopped,” she said.

Sheffield Hallam was approached for comment. A university spokesperson previously said the institution was having to make “tough decisions” owing to the “well-documented financial challenges” across the higher education sector, adding that the TPS was “unsustainable”.

In a separate development, UCU members at London Metropolitan University have announced eight days of strike action from 15 April over plans to cut more than 100 jobs.

The action, spread across three weeks, comes after a 90 per cent “yes” vote in a ballot. UCU said that it feared that compulsory redundancies would be used to axe up to 120 staff, with the union fearing that more than one in five academic posts could go.

Grady said that the cuts could “seriously threaten the viability of London Met as an academic institution” and that several subjects could be “compromised or even eliminated” as a result of the restructure. The university posted a £12 million deficit for 2024-25 in its latest accounts.

A London Met spokesperson said: “We’re disappointed that strike action has been called, but we recognise the concerns behind this action. Our priority is protecting our students’ experience and education, and we remain committed to engaging with the union to work through this.”

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com