Cardiff University announces final cuts package as union expresses grave concern

Martin Shipton

Cardiff University has announced that the business case for its controversial “Academic Futures” cuts proposals has been approved by the university’s top decision making body.

But the University and College Union has expressed grave concern for the university’s future.

The proposals passed by the University Council will mean that university bosses will now be able to carry out their cuts, which include:

Ending teaching and research in the subjects of Religion, Theology, Portuguese, German, and Italian; and ending the teaching of Ancient History.

Reducing student numbers in the teaching of Nursing, some languages, and Music (after initially planning to axe the provision entirely);

Merging Welsh, English, Communication, Philosophy, Music, History, Archaeology and the remaining languages which weren’t cut entirely into a new School of the Global Humanities;

The School of Geography and the School of Social Sciences will be merged into the School of Human and Social Sciences;

The Schools of Physics, Earth Sciences, and Chemistry are to be merged into the School of Physical and Environmental Sciences;

Computer Science and Maths will merge into the School of Computational and Mathematical Sciences.

Reductions

Since the cuts were announced the institution has lost around 150 Full Time Equivalent staff, with around 80 further reductions planned.

Losses of staff through voluntary redundancy were suffered by the Schools of Nursing, Medicine, Biosciences, Music, Business, Sociology, Geography, English, Communication and Philosophy, Chemistry, Maths, and Computer Science.

The university is also currently planning further cuts, in addition to its “Academic Futures” plans, to the future of Professional Services support staffing in ways which will have wide-ranging implications for staff and students.

The University has reassured such staff, many of whom are represented by the University and College Union, that the same level of cuts to academic provision will not be made to professional services. But many fear their jobs will be downgraded, they will be made to apply for different jobs, or that there will be compulsory changes to their contracts.

Email

In an email to staff, the Chair of Cardiff University Council, TV executive Pat Youngs stated: “Yesterday, the University Council, the university’s governing body, approved the plans for Our Academic Future proposed by the Vice-Chancellor and University Executive Board (UEB).

“The meeting considered the plans put forward by UEB and listened to a deputation by the campus unions. It also considered recommendations made by Senate and the Finance and Resources Committee, both of which provided advice to Council. The Finance and Resources Committee endorsed and recommended the proposals, but the Senate opposed them.

“Council members were able to consider the alternative proposals put forward as part of the consultation process, as these were made available to them.

“Council concluded that the delay suggested by the unions would exacerbate and fail to address the immediate and persistent financial challenges facing the university, recognised externally by independent agencies such as Moody’s.

“Council believed the plans that had been developed by UEB were in line with the strategic objectives of Our future, together, that the Executive Board had been diligent in the development of its plans, had followed due process and demonstrated it was a genuine consultation process through the range of amendments made to the original consultation document.

“While stating at the outset that this could never completely close the financial gap, Council recognised that the plans made significant headway in achieving academic and financial sustainability, generating £22.5m net savings a year when combined with the Voluntary Severance Scheme (VSS) once fully implemented.

“It approved the proposals after being given a range of assurances including certain issues raised by Senate. Amongst others, it was agreed:

that new staff student ratios would be applied appropriately

that we would embrace new pedagogical delivery methods to maintain student experience and reduce academic workload

that School mergers – whilst approved – would take place after the Horizon 1 activity on Schools and Colleges and the first phase of the new student hubs had been completed

that concerns over the impact on REF 2029 had been factored into the planning cycle

that the university’s commitments to enhancing Welsh language provision is unwavering, with the plans providing opportunities to mainstream the Welsh language.

“Members of Council recognised that there is more work to be done. UEB will now put forward a four-year budget for Council’s approval, which reflects these decisions. Council will expect UEB to make progress, at pace, with projects such as digitisation and streamlining the estate, as well as continuing to remove complexity from the organisation. Management will be encouraged to consider which projects are urgent and critical, and also where there is the option of time and sequencing of activities to take pressure off the organisation.

“Council also called on the UEB to find the capacity (resources and money) to begin the financial investments required to secure the future of the university and accelerate the generation of additional income streams.

“Council recognises this has been a difficult process for our university community, especially for staff at risk of redundancy and students whose courses have faced closure. Our deliberations yesterday focused heavily on staff and student wellbeing, and Council members recognise the stress and at times distress that has been experienced. For some of you, this email is going to be very hard to accept – we know and recognise that – but we hope that there is at least now clarity on the forward direction for all members of our community. Support is available, details are included at the bottom of this message.

“Council believes the steps taken, whilst painful, were necessary to secure the long-term future of the university in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world. As has been said many times before, this is a challenging time for higher education in the UK and across the globe, and we need to adapt and respond in order to be sustainable. Council is ready to play its part in building the positive engagement and assurance across the university with students, staff, trade unions and stakeholders, that will be the key to our success.

“There will be more questions arising as a result of this message. Staff and students will be updated by the UEB as soon as possible on the next steps. Further engagement with in-scope Schools will come in the coming days – I understand many of these meetings are already in the diary.”

‘Toxic’

A statement issued by UCU said its representatives had been given 12 minutes at the Council meeting to present their critique of the “toxic” plans and take questions.

It continued: “The branch highlighted numerous shortcomings, including:

“The management plan offers no evidence from market data, no financial modelling, no academic portfolio for the SGH, and no strategy for managing critical impacts on workload, research capacity or wellbeing;

“It pursues Student Staff Ratios significantly out of line with Russell group averages;

“Staff do not agree with the vision for this future university, nor with the benchmark metrics or approaches used to translate this vision into the proposal;

“Cutting academic payroll is a quick fix to balancing the books, but one that threatens short- and long-term sustainability; and therefore

“Slower, more sustainable solutions, such as reducing estates, should be a priority.

“Last week, Cardiff University Senate (the body tasked with upholding academic standards) made a very clear indication of opposition with not one member voting to recommend Council pass the proposals. In its appeal to Council, the union said that green lighting the plans against the advice of Senate would be ‘unprecedented and further undermine staff’s confidence in our governance process’.

‘Unpopular’

Responding to the news that Council has passed the plans, a Cardiff UCU spokesperson said: “We are gravely concerned that Council hasn’t heeded staff warnings and appeals to slow down the implementation of these toxic and deeply unpopular proposals. There are serious questions about the independence of University governance bodies like Council across the UK and we are concerned that today was an exercise in rubber stamping management’s plans rather than holding the executive to account.

“This is not the end. Under pressure from staff, students, and the broader community, management have already U-turned on some of the more damaging aspects of their original plans and agreed there will be no compulsory redundancies this year. We will continue to fight on behalf of our members’ jobs, conditions, and the academic disciplines being decimated with every tool at our disposal including consulting our members about future industrial action.”

UCU also released the full text of the oral submission it made to the University Council meeting which subsequently approved the revised cuts programme.

‘Chaos’

It stated: “Thank you for the opportunity to speak today, on behalf of all three unions, and as members of staff. After 4 months of chaos, we came to present what nearly all of our 8000 colleagues think: the business case, as it stands, is unacceptable.

“It pursues Student Staff Ratios significantly out of line with Russell group averages. It offers no evidence from market data, no financial modelling, no academic portfolio for the SGH, and no strategy for managing critical impacts on workload, research capacity or wellbeing.

“More fundamentally, staff do not agree with the vision for this future university, nor with the benchmark metrics or approaches used to translate this vision into the proposal. Cutting academic payroll is a quick fix to balancing the books, but one that threatens short- and long-term sustainability. Slower, more sustainable solutions, such as reducing estates, should be a priority.

“To be clear – we need reform. We want the long-term success of this university. We are not just protecting our jobs or subject areas; we are defending our right to substantively engage with the academic and professional planning of our disciplines and our university. There is considerable expertise in frontline staff. We know how things work on the ground, we know how quickly things can be broken, and we know it will be left to us to mend things when they break. We ask to be taken seriously.

“The four-month consultation on the Academic Future proposal is still incomplete and has resulted in a premature ‘final’ business case (which originally contained multiple errors and inconsistencies). This presents multiple risks.

“Since the end of January, the unions have been granted 12 hours of university-level formal consultation: these never felt long enough, and no minutes were ever provided. We have submitted hundreds of members’ questions, over a quarter of which never received answers. Staff were promised answers in individual HR consultation meetings, but never received answers. Major stakeholders in and beyond Cardiff wrote to UEB, but never received answers. Many of the alternative proposals never received feedback.

“Others received feedback only orally and briefly, with no notetakers allowed. Townhalls were held and questions taken, but answers were overwhelmingly perceived as unhelpful and avoidant. There has been little transparency around decision-making processes and no room for questioning the premises underlying the proposal. No criteria have been proposed to make individuals redundant in units which are in scope. The final business case moves staff in and out of scope indefinitely, raising serious concerns about constructive dismissal. Reference is made throughout the document to ‘the new Professional Services Excellence Model’, as if it were completed. But this model is yet to be determined and hasn’t been consulted upon. All this is both legally and structurally of great concern. Legal advice is being sought, and the university is under scrutiny from the Health and Safety Executive about the ongoing adverse impact on staff safety.

“There has been some evolution of the original business case. But instead of demonstrating that the consultation has been meaningful, the detail of the changes in fact reveals three things: Firstly, that the data on staffing and the legal ramifications of cuts were not fully considered during initial planning. Secondly, that staff have made bargains for huge workloads and the risks of unknown work conditions in Kazakhstan. And thirdly, that large numbers of expert staff have left, which means that very high Student-Staff Ratios have suddenly been met. The schools still in scope are the ones that have been asked for the biggest staffing cuts, and have not been able to strike a deal, despite enormous efforts developing fully-costed and viable counter-proposals.

“Staff are already reporting unsustainable workloads and administrative disarray. Now 650 staff are still at risk. Staff whose jobs are at risk don’t apply for research funding or effectively engage in long-term activities that contribute to our reputation. Overworked and stressed staff are also not in a position to work towards long-term goals. Universities are built on reputation and run on staff goodwill. We fear that by damaging one and destroying the other, the academic futures proposal threatens the short and long-term sustainability of the institution.

“We ask Council to follow Senate’s very clear recommendation on what is essentially an academic matter. Not doing so would be unprecedented and further undermine staff’s confidence in our governance process. We recommend that Council:

Pauses implementation of Academic Futures to allow for full consultation and risk assessment, in particular around the new SGH and other mergers.

Requests a more measured reform timeline that protects academic quality, student satisfaction, research capacity and income generation, and staff wellbeing.

Revises the short-term targets to align with sector norms, ensuring financial viability without sacrificing institutional integrity.

And finally, urges UEB to prioritise rebuilding trust with staff through transparent and meaningful engagement.