UCU Commons newsletter #21, 1 July 2026

Dear subscriber

Welcome to the UCU Commons newsletter, a curated set of links and information about what's happening in UCU Commons, our union, and our sectors more generally. As always, we welcome any feedback you may have on this or any other matter.

In today's issue:

What UCU Commons has been doing

Our report from the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting on 1 May is now available to read. Key takeaways:

• UCU’s response to brutal MoJ cuts to the prison education workforce were shared.
• Proposed changes to the Equality Standing Committees’ nomination process were ratified.
• Motions were passed calling on UCU to enact meaningful solidarity with trans and non-binary and Jewish communities in light of recent attacks.

The report also highlights that the two recent (unsuccessful) Certification Officer complaints cost UCU a six-figure sum in legal costs. 

We are delighted that several members of UCU Commons were elected to key positions at this year’s Congress and HE Sector Conference in May. Jo Edge and Lisa Rüll will sit on the Conduct of Members’ Committee for three years; Ben Pope was re-elected as national HE pay negotiator; and Bijan Parsia will serve as USS pensions alternate negotiator.

Commoners who sit on UCU’s NEC have also been elected to various internal roles and subcommittees. Sophia Woodman will serve as pre-92 vice chair of the Higher Education Committee (HEC), joining Ben Pope and Mark Pendleton on the pay negotiator team. Tilly Fitzmaurice was re-elected as chair of the Equality Committee, and will sit ex officio on the Strategy and Finance Committee (SFC). Alex Prichard was elected to the SFC; Sophia Woodman and Caroline Proctor to the Recruitment, Organising and Campaigns Committee (ROCC); Matthew Barnard and Gillian Jack to the Education Committee; Caroline Proctor to observe the Academic Related Professional Services (ARPS) committee; and Matthew Barnard to the TPS pensions working group.

Jo Edge (co-chair) is bringing a motion and explanatory paper to the meeting of the Anti-Casualisation Committee (ACC) on 8 July to open up the nomination process with the hope of reducing co-options. This follows a similar motion passed through NEC on 1 May 2026 regarding the process of nominating to UCU’s Equality Standing Committees. Jo says, “the process of co-opting members for a one year period almost every year due to a lack of nominations takes up time and resources that branches, officials and the ACC could better use to deal with important business. I hope this motion is approved by the ACC and progresses through the relevant channels to be voted on at a future NEC”.

Dave Hitchcock attended a meeting of reps from post-92 branches at UCU Head Office on 23 June, principally looking at attacks on the Teacher's Pension Scheme (TPS). Dave's main takeaway was not about pensions though (very much worth fighting for of course), but instead it was the frankly appalling working conditions that thousands of staff are now being routinely subjected to, as university managers get "very creative in their attempts to worsen conditions, enlarge classes, slash modules, and minimise staff agency". The use of subsidiary companies is becoming seemingly endemic as a route to force staff off of pensions deemed too expensive as well. Dave says, "We have to fight these off properly or they will become ubiquitous throughout the sector, thoroughly alienating and disempowering university staff”.

News from UCU

Last Friday saw the first meeting of the new HEC for this year, and for the first time in recent years had an extended discussion around our own HE strategy. The desperate need for a strategic approach to the crises affecting the HE sector was a key focus of new VP (Higher Education) Mark Pendleton’s election campaign. Between the election results being announced and starting his new role, Mark has been meeting regularly with key teams in UCU Head Office to build consensus on a unified strategy. We are pleased to report that this was overwhelmingly supported by two-thirds of HEC. Mark says, “It is absolutely essential that we are working together to confront the crisis in HE, from the elected leadership of the union through our professional staff teams and to activists and regular members on the ground. Stay tuned over the summer as this strategy gets fleshed out further with opportunities for all members to support this strategy through your research, professional networks, lobbying politicians, and participating in media and other campaign actions”.

Members at Exeter UCU are reeling after this week’s announcement that the university planned to cut 200 staff (153 FTE), largely from the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS). Alex Prichard, co-chair of the branch, says “this plan for compulsory redundancies is reckless vandalism. The pooling of 500 jobs is based on utterly contrived data with a highly dubious underlying financial rationale. With no deficit and good cash reserves we see no justification for this. Our employers continue to refuse to share the financial information we need to consult collectively. We are balloting for local strike action as a matter of urgency, and we will win this”. For now, please sign and share this petition launched in response to the news.

In the wake of the publication of the EHRC guidelines, UCU has now published very useful guidance for branches on trans, non-binary and intersex inclusion. It includes this key point: ‘The new EHRC guidance provides interpretation but not obligation. It does not require institutions to amend policies immediately, nor does it override the need for proportionality, evidence, and balanced governance’. Madeleine Moore notes, “Despite the Labour Government and EHRC striving with all they can to create a nation of toilet police, as the UCU branch guidance outlines, the law does not allow for harassment and invasive questioning of employees in their workplace. The guidance gives practical steps for how branches can engage in dialogue with institutions to help protect the privacy and dignity all deserve in the workplace, particularly our trans, non-binary and intersex colleagues who are in the maelstrom of a culture war. The UCU guidance also helps outline the key points from the Sussex v OfS High Court judgment, whereby Universities can lawfully have trans inclusion policies alongside freedom of speech commitments”. Please make sure your branch committee is aware of this guidance.

In our sectors

Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson (Oxford, Modern History and French, 2005) and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Pat McFadden (Edinburgh, Politics, 1987) have issued a profoundly depressing paper firmly aimed at ‘other people’s children’. Packed full of anti-intellectual dogwhistles, it promises a ‘new deal for young people’ which will ‘crack down’ on ‘poor quality’ courses, end ‘degree by default culture’ and ‘boost apprenticeships’. If we’re honest, we barely got past the third paragraph. Degrees and apprenticeships are both hugely important, and placing them in conflict to inflame a culture war peddled to imaginary voters is beyond the pale. In any case, we’re sure Phillipson’s children will be going to university.

Andy Burnham’s rumoured new chief of staff, James Purnell, has an interesting career to date. Not only did his previous company advise firms like BP and Amazon, but he was also, until September 2024 Vice Chancellor of University of the Arts London. Rob Clarke says, “Anyone hoping that Burnham’s government would be more forward-facing and left-leaning can only be disappointed by the backward-looking, rightward-lurching appointment of the neo-liberal-thinking corporate lobbyist and former minister to Blair and Brown, James Purnell, who as Secretary of State for Work and Pensions wanted to raise interest rates on crisis loans for people in desperate need to 26.8%, and who quit the Brown government in a rage, sending his resignation letter directly to his mates at The Sun and The Times (curious that Burnham of all people would appoint someone apparently that close to the Murdoch press). He was a rubbish Vice Chancellor too. May his tenure in a role behind the big black door be more akin in duration to Liz and her lettuce than Larry the cat”.

We hope you have enjoyed this round up. Want to get involved? Join UCU Commons and work with us towards a more effective union for post-16 education here. 

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