Author: L Scott Blankenship

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Marking boycott and strike information

Email sent to members on Wednesday 20th May 2026.

Dear UCU members, 

Today at midday, we start with our Marking and Assessment Boycott (MAB) and Action Short of a Strike (ASOS). We do not like to be in this position, but management’s savage attack on our jobs and degree programmes has left us with no alternative. When we do take action, please remember that we defend our jobs, but also students’ learning conditions as well as the very existence of our university. Take heart in our collective strength and support each other. Together we will win!

On Friday 22 May, we are going on an all-out strike to demonstrate to management our collective power and resolve. We will have two mass pickets at South and West Entrances, University Park from 8 a.m. to 11.45 a.m. Afterwards we will walk up to Trent Courtyard for a rally at 12 noon. Any members with children to look after due to local schools in-set/training days this Friday are warmly encouraged to join the South entrance picket as it is next to Highfields park. We will have some kid-friendly craft items available, and will welcome additional materials being brought along.

Ahead of the strike, members working on campus today are encouraged to attend a Reclaim Your Lunch Break picnic on either Jubilee or University Park campus. Your reps network will be hosting these weekly, along with Zoom coffees starting next week. The UoN UCU public calendar, embedded on the home page of the branch website, will have the dates, times and locations for these solidarity building events.

As we begin this period of active industrial action it is key that members who cannot participate in the MAB, and our wider supporters, continue to donate to our local solidarity funds. As outlined in earlier emails, we are aiming to offer each branch member who faces deductions for participation in industrial action up to £1000 of support from local funds – this is in addition to support from the UCU National Fighting Fund. To achieve this, we need consistent and widespread fundraising – see the branch home page for the bank details and a JustGiving page to use here.

Finally, let us remember that the Vice Chancellor can at any time choose to de-escalate this situation by arriving at meaningful agreement that addresses the terms of our dispute.  

Solidarity,

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Reminder: Member meeting 1-2pm today

Email sent to members on Monday 18th May 2026. Zoom link removed.

Dear members,

Just a final reminder that we have a meeting today (Monday 18th) at 1-2pm – link and agenda below. A lot has happened in this last week and we wanted to check in with you all, update you on all the work that is going on behind the scenes, and talk clearly about the upcoming industrial action and why it is so important.

We’ve had lots of new joiners which is fantastic, but to win we need everyone to play their part. So whether or not you’re new to UCU and industrial action, please do come along today.

In solidarity,

Agenda:

  • Welcome and context
  • What has UCU been doing this last week
  • Why industrial action?
  • How do we do industrial action?
  • Member questions
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We are left with no alternative but to take action!

Email sent to members Monday 18th May 2026. Zoom link removed.

As part of our campaign to defend jobs and working conditions at the University of Nottingham, we will be sending regular emails, authored by different UCU members, examining key elements of management’s restructuring plans. Today we outline why taking action is the only possible option left for us. Feel free to share this post with non-UCU members in your area.

We are left with no alternative but to take action!

No member of staff enjoys endangering the graduations of their students. No member of staff likes losing significant amounts of pay. Industrial action is always a matter of last resort. When we take part in industrial action, then because management leaves us with no alternative. Confronted with more than 700 job cuts (609 FTE), we have to act! 

We have explored every potential avenue to avoid getting to this moment. From the very beginning of Future Nottingham (FN), we engaged constructively with management’s plans. In July 2025, UCU presented its Alternatives to Redundancies at the University of Nottingham proposal, including an updated Alternative Financial Strategy 2.1. We demonstrated that management’s FN Phase 1 job cuts were not necessary. This was followed by UCU’s Counter-Proposal to the University’s Course Suspension Plan in December 2025. Management refused to engage seriously throughout this time.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

UCU representatives attended countless meetings with management about different aspects of FN. Our discussions about the disastrous increase in staff-student ratios to between 1:18 to 1:22, for example, were underpinned by a detailed SSR report, indicating the dangers to UoN’s international reputation and league table positions. And yet, management declined to adjust their restructuring plans. The draft Business Case of May 2026 is only marginally different from the Strategic Case for Change of November 2025.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

All three campus trade unions Unison, Unite and UCU passed Votes of No Confidence in the VC, Chair of Council and the University Executive Board. None of them took this as a signal to reconsider their positions and approach.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

Senate, officially in charge of holding UoN management to account on education matters, voted twice against the FN restructuring plans by a clear majority. The VC and her senior management colleagues simply disregarded these votes.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

We attempted to influence the Council of the University, the body in charge of approving FN plans. We sent our Future Nottingham Phase 2: report and recommendations, and when management refused to forward it to members of Council, we approached these members directly. Staff representatives on Council fought valiantly trying to demonstrate to Council the risks involved in management’s strategy. Nevertheless, under the leadership of the Chair of Council Sir Keith O’Nions, in charge of Council throughout the university’s period of steady decline (see Sir Keith O’Nions – Engendering Decline!), and despite loud protests outside the meeting hall, Council waived through management’s plans without in-depth scrutiny.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

We approached the various MPs of Nottinghamshire and local councillors, who raised our concerns with UoN management. Nevertheless, here too the Vice Chancellor did not change course.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

We engaged the wider public through media reports and petitions. Countless people, horrified by the savage cuts to Modern Languages, Music, American and Canadian Studies as well as mental health nursing courses amongst others, signed petitions and appealed directly to UoN management, alas to no avail.

Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

In short, we have left no stone unturned, but management has consistently refused to shift. Hence, we are left with no alternative but to take action!

Please remember today’s members’ meeting at 1 p.m. to discuss the Marking and Assessment Boycott as well as strike action.

                    On behalf of the UCU Branch Committee

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Appeal to Council – Do not approve FN!

Email sent to members on Tuesday 28th April 2026.

As part of our campaign to defend jobs and working conditions at the University of Nottingham, we will be sending regular emails, authored by different UCU members, examining key elements of management’s restructuring plans. Today we share the email and report we sent to members of university council – the main governing body of the university – who will decide on the futures of over 600 academics on May 5th and 6th. We urged them to rethink the university’s reckless plans and to consider a much more careful approach to university savings, presented in the 50-page report attached. Feel free to share this post with non-UCU members in your area.

Dear Council Members,

I’m writing to share the attached UCU report on Future Nottingham Phase 2.

I would strongly urge you, particularly our external members, to read this in full before endorsing the University Executive Board’s plans.

UEB’s current strategy is being presented as risk reduction. In reality, it is a high-risk approach that relies on cutting deeply into the University’s core academic capacity while assuming that student demand, research income, and reputation will somehow hold up. The evidence in this report suggests that is not a safe assumption.

What is being proposed is very fast, very large-scale change. The likely consequences are not abstract:

  • student–staff ratios pushed well beyond Russell Group norms, with clear implications for rankings and recruitment (and no evidence to support UEB’s claim that such extreme SSRs will be replicated across the sector, despite a union request)
  • reduced research capacity, with direct consequences for grant income and long-term reputation (the strategy speaks of “academic growth” but sets out no credible plan for achieving it, while actively cutting the capacity required to deliver it)
  • loss of staff that is unlikely to be “controlled”, particularly among those most able to leave
  • a real risk of a self-reinforcing cycle, where cuts reduce income, leading to further cuts and ongoing institutional decline

Put bluntly, there is a credible scenario here where the strategy meant to stabilise the University instead pushes it into decline. Our report sets out an alternative that still delivers substantial savings but does so in a much more controlled way. In particular, it shows how savings can be made through natural attrition and workforce rebalancing, delivering on the order of:

  • ~£6–7m per year
  • ~£20m over three years
  • ~£34m over five years

These figures are grounded in observed staff turnover and avoid the costs and disruption associated with large-scale redundancies. Crucially, in contrast to UEB’s proposal, they do not depend on weakening the University’s core teaching and research capacity.

There are also serious concerns about governance which, frankly, should give Council pause.

The report documents repeated instances where:

  • key decisions have been pushed through without proper process
  • the information provided to Council has lacked the detail needed to test the proposals properly
  • Heads of School have not endorsed plans that are being presented as if they have
  • Equality Impact Assessments are incomplete or absent

More broadly, there is a growing disconnect between what is being reported upwards and what is being experienced across the University. Many school leaders are deeply concerned about the direction of travel. That is not being reflected clearly in the narrative reaching Council.

You should also be aware of the wider context. All three campus unions have passed votes of no confidence in the University’s leadership. UCU has now balloted for industrial action and secured strong support, with over 86% in favour of action. We also secured the highest turnout across the sector this year, reflecting widespread and escalating concern across the institution.

Council’s role here is critical. These are not routine decisions, and the consequences are not easily reversible. Endorsing a plan of this scale without properly stress-testing its assumptions, and without seriously considering alternatives, carries its own risks. Our ask is straightforward:

  • please read the report in full
  • ask for clear evidence, at school level, that the proposed cuts are deliverable without damaging core functions
  • question whether the financial projections properly account for the risks set out above
  • and give proper consideration to the alternative approach

There is still time to take a more measured path. There may not be a second chance to undo the damage if we get this wrong.

Yours sincerely,

UoN UCU Branch Committee

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Nottingham Post article

Email sent to members on Monday 27th April. Links updated.


You may have seen an article in Nottingham post that was published late on Friday. Please find link below. This was about proposed job losses indicated in a draft FN2 business case that had been shown to Senate and was going to Council for approval to consult with staff and Trade Unions. We were told that this document would come to us, UCU,  after the Council meeting. Unfortunately, however, as reported by the Post it confirms our worst fears and makes clear that our moving towards industrial action is absolutely necessary.

Council will take a decision on 6 May on the draft Business Case. We sent Council our counterproposal of how to confront the current financial situation, see attached.  Hopefully, Council will see sense and reject that management draft Business Case. 

Link to article

Full solidarity,