UCU accuses LSE of being ‘evasive’ as redundancies planned

Unions fear more than 50 roles are at risk after the London School of Economics (LSE) began a redundancy process.

The University and College Union (UCU) branch at the institution said the potential redundancies, which will affect both academic and professional services staff, go against recent reassurances that the school was in a good financial position.

LSE informed the union this week that it was starting a 30-day consultation period on proposed redundancies, but many of the details remained unclear.

UCU said the university had been “evasive about numbers and about procedures to be followed” in communications to date.

Asked for clarity by Times Higher Education, an LSE spokesman said it was not commenting “on our internal processes”.

UCU said in an update to its members that it was aware several of them were “notified that they were at risk of redundancy in late March and were invited to individual redundancy consultations held over the past week”. It put the tally of possible redundancies at 52.

But it said there were “gaps in the school’s own knowledge of the numbers and categories of staff who are potentially at risk of redundancy in certain units” and that the unions had been told they would only be informed once it was “reasonably practicable” to share”. 

“We cannot begin serious consultations when the school does not know how many jobs – and which jobs – in certain units are likely to be proposed for redundancy,” the union told members.

It added that it had been informed by the university’s HR department that it was not planning on extending the consultation beyond the statutory 30-day minimum period, and that it will not recommend enhanced redundancy payments for affected academic staff.

“UCU remains committed to engaging with the school in meaningful consultation with a view to reaching an agreement. We hope that the school will resolve its problematic handling of this very serious matter and engage with the unions more openly and transparently. We are committed to protecting everyone’s job and challenging all redundancies, in line with long-established UCU policy,” the update says.

The news comes months after LSE’s president and vice-chancellor, Larry Kramer, reassured staff about the university’s financial position.

In an all-staff email sent in February, Kramer told staff that while there has been “a lot of troubling news” about financial challenges and redundancies at UK universities, “LSE is in a good financial position. The School does not need to cut costs and has no plans for redundancies”. 

A LSE UCU branch spokesperson said that they were “alarmed” that LSE is “moving towards large-scale redundancies, despite the vice-chancellor’s very recent promise to the LSE community that none were on the horizon”. 

“We do not actually know which jobs are at risk for the most part because the letter we received from the school acknowledged that they do not yet know which posts are in scope. It is impossible to figure out how we are expected to engage in meaningful consultation. Some posts at risk are permanent professional services staff, and it is not clear that all of the proposed redundancies are genuine redundancy situations.

“The conflicting information and procedural irregularities are causing staff across the school a lot of stress, especially because this is unfolding in the context of a massive restructuring programme that could lead to further redundancies later this year.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com