Email sent to members on Monday 22nd June 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 discuss the enormous toll that management’s restructuring plans and simple incompetence have taken on staff. Feel free to share this post with non-UCU members in your area.
I’ve been employed in my role here for less than a year. So far Nottingham have accidently sacked me, put me at risk of redundancy, and potentially lost my personal data to cybercriminals.
Just over a year ago I was about to graduate with my PhD and start what I thought was my dream job. I felt so lucky to have quickly secured a permanent academic post at a Russell Group University and was excited for the year ahead.
Since then, the University of Nottingham have accidently sacked me, put me at risk of redundancy, and potentially lost my personal data to cybercriminals.
Back in September 2025, during the first week of teaching, I received an email telling me that my account was going to be closed that evening, as I was leaving the University. This email arrived shortly before 3pm in the afternoon, just I was heading into a medical appointment. I had no idea what this was about, and as a new member of staff, was somewhat panicked that there may have been an issue with my contract.
It was not until the next day, when I managed to get hold of HR on the phone, that I learned there had been a mistake in the system, and I had incorrectly been processed as a leaver. I was told that they ‘thought’ they could reverse this, and without it affecting my tax, as ‘fortunately’ we had just entered a new pay cycle. To be fair, at this point the University did confirm with me almost immediately that the leavers process had been reversed, and I was back on my account later that day. However, it was not until several months later that it was confirmed that my tax had not been impacted, and as a new member of staff, the whole ordeal had quite an impact on me.
Then, on the 12th May of this year, I received an email placing my role at risk of redundancy. I’m still not sure what the pool I have been placed in actually looks like, as the numbers on my letter and the University documents do not match. As with many others placed at risk, this has had a significant impact on my self-worth, sense of security and stability, and my initial sense of pride at working for the University of Nottingham has rapidly waned. It has been incredibly difficult to continue to function, turn up to work, and provide the kind of experience, support and presence of mind that I want to give my students.
Most recently, on the 10th June, I received an email from the University letting me know that my data had potentially been accessed by cybercriminals the previous day. I am currently enrolled at the University as a student, as well as a staff member, which is why my data was included in the breach. The email informed us that cybercriminals had potentially accessed our contact information, University details, financial information, and personal information. For me, this includes private medical information. The advice provided was to change our passwords and monitor our accounts for suspicious activity. When I attempted to call IT Services to change my passwords (which students cannot do independently) it was not possible to get through.
This data breach has been even more worrying for me due to security risks in my personal life, with my address needing to be kept confidential.
Last year I thought I’d secured my dream job, but so far it has felt like one crisis after another. Looking forward to the coming year, I feel more dread than optimism.
An indebted thank you to, and solidarity with, colleagues from across the University who are currently participating in industrial action at great personal cost. And to those who are not currently out on strike, a reminder to say no to and to continue to resist requests that undermine the action of colleagues who have withdrawn their labour to save our University!
On behalf of the Branch Committee