On 28 January, Cardiff University senior management announced their intention to make extensive and rapid cuts of over 400FTE academic staff as part of a massive restructure. This put over 1800 academic staff immediately at risk of redundancy.
On 25 March, our union branch gained a significant mandate from members for industrial action with 64.3% turnout, and members voted to initiate strike action including a Marking and Assessment Boycott starting on 6 May. Our demand was simple: to stop the threatened compulsory redundancies in 2025. At the same time, UCU representatives and department representatives worked intensively to negotiate. You can read about the extensive campaigning work here.
On 30 April, two working days before the marking and assessment boycott was due to begin, senior management agreed to guarantee no compulsory redundancies, and no notices served, in the calendar year 2025. At UCU’s emergency general meeting on 1 May, members collectively agreed to suspending the notified industrial action in exchange for this guarantee.
Despite extensive evidence of weaknesses in the overall plans (see our summary here), the Academic Futures restructure was signed off by Council on 17 June.
The current position
As of the last information provided by senior management on 30 June 2025, Cardiff University has lost 151.21 FTE academic staff. Senior management continue to seek a further c. 70 FTE academic staff cuts to 2030. Voluntary redundancy and early retirement schemes are still in place for staff across SOCSI, GEOPL, SHARE, MLANG, and Music who are still at risk of compulsory redundancy from 1 January 2026. There is still a high risk of future threats to jobs in 2026 due to further restructuring, including to professional services through the centralisation of the ‘hubs’.
The cuts and restructures and new programmes are generating a workload and health crisis across the university. Management have offered no meaningful response other than to insist that we will be ‘working differently’. They do not explain what this means.
Following a members’ vote at an Emergency General Meeting on 25 June, we wrote to university leadership asking for:
- The immediate removal of all staff from scope.
- The guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for the calendar year 2026 as part of the Academic Futures and other restructuring projects.
- The guarantee that workloads will not be adversely affected by Academic Futures and other restructuring projects.
- A commitment from university management to implementing the jointly-agreed H&S Strategy, including carrying out the HSE Stress Indicator Tool, and producing specific risk assessments for teaching in Kazakhstan as part of the Transnational Education programme, by 1 October 2025.
The Vice Chancellor replied on 15 July stating that they cannot commit to any of these. She did, however, say again that we would “work differently” to cope with workloads, and promised more all-staff surveys including on wellbeing.
This means that UCU, Unite and UNISON have entered a formal industrial dispute with the university. The three unions are working in a united front.
The indicative ballot
The threats of compulsory redundancies and theworkload and health crisis are real and urgent. The Cardiff UCU Branch Exec continue to meet and negotiate with UEB.
In 2025 our mandate for strike action and action short of a strike (ASOS) forced management to guarantee no Compulsory Redundancies in 2025. The best way to protect members workloads, gain leverage in negotiations and prevent redundancies is to get another strong mandate for industrial action.
As in early 2025, a resounding win in this ballot could be a push towards once again avoiding the need to strike.
This is a consultative ballot, a show of strength. It is required by UCU regulations before we move to the legally binding ballot. All members need to vote. You should vote YES in this ballot:
- To prevent compulsory redundancies from January 2026, and to pressure university management to stop the continued cuts and restructures across Professional Services and all our Schools which threaten the core viability of the university.
- To give our union leverage to demand fair workloads and safe working environments.
- Via a vote for ASOS, to give members the ability to work to contract to protect their health and safety.