Published: 11th November, 2025
The University of Leicester has begun its redundancy programme. We can now reveal the extent of “phase one” of their plans. Film Studies is to be closed down and the staff sacked. Modern Languages is to be closed down and the staff sacked. History will lose however many staff it takes to save £500,000 a…
Published: 25th September, 2025
Members of our branch are to begin three weeks of strike action from 29th September, which will seriously disrupt the operations of the University of Leicester. The strikes have been called to stop compulsory redundancies as the university seeks £11m in cuts to its staffing budget. In addition to striking, members of UCU will also,…
Published: 3rd September, 2025
Leicester UCU (LUCU) are deeply concerned by the proposed redundancy of the University’s glassblower, Gayle Price, and the planned closure of the glassblowing workshop – a facility that has served the University of Leicester since 1961. This decision has been taken without meaningful consultation, disregarding the voices of over 80 Chemistry colleagues who attended a…
Published: 2nd September, 2025
Leicester University executive has announced a first compulsory redundancy programme for the new academic year—targeting a group of academic-related professional services staff in the Division of Biomedical Services (DBS). Staff from the DBS were invited to a first collective consultation meeting on 18 August. This begins a 90-day consultation period for those staff placed at risk of…
Published: 22nd July, 2025
Part 1: The Case for Industrial Action Part 2: Technical Questions about Industrial Action Part 1: The Case for Industrial Action The university is currently threatening to launch a redundancy programme in November 2025 with the goal of cutting the staffing budget by £11m. Six academic areas have been targeted for potential redundancies — Chemistry;…
Published: 3rd June, 2025
UCU members will have been justifiably alarmed to hear that the following areas have been selected for “pre-change engagement”: Several areas of professional services have also been put in scope: Pre-change is often a prelude to job losses—as was the case in the run-up to the 2021 “Shaping for Excellence” redundancy programme. Indeed, the Vice…
Published: 26th November, 2024
VSS, the University’s Financial Crisis and our Workload Crisis Leicester University and College Union (UCU) are deeply concerned by the University of Leicester’s decision to open a voluntary severance scheme (VSS). VSS will permanently reduce staff numbers, resulting in increased stresses and strains on the whole university community. The university claims to have launched VSS…
Published: 11th March, 2024
Leicester UCU celebrates last week’s ruling from an Employment Tribunal, that three former colleagues, David Harvie, Geoffrey Lightfoot and Simon Lilley, were unfairly dismissed by the University of Leicester. The three were among the victims, within the School of Business (ULSB), of the “Shaping for Excellence” redundancy programme. The case follows an earlier Tribunal ruling…
Published: 20th August, 2021
On 3 August Nishan Canagajarah announced phase 2 of ‘shaping for excellence’. In an email to all University staff, he stated: ‘The exact net reduction will depend on the outcome of the selection and consultation processes that will take place over the next few months. However, we know that this will not be more than…
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