Dear subscribers,

Yesterday, the 2025 NEC elections period officially begun. Members will begin to receive their ballots, along with the candidate statement pack, by post in the next couple of days.

These elections are for members of the National Executive Committee (NEC) together with the Higher Education Committee and Further Education Committee subcommittees (HEC and FEC respectively), as well as for the next Vice President in HE, the Honorary Treasurer, and UCU Trustees.

It is vital that you vote in these elections. The decisions taken in NEC, HEC and FEC can make or break our union and our action. At this time of unprecedented crisis in the HE sector, and a potential turning point in the FE sector, it is more important than ever to return an executive that reflects the needs and views of the membership.

As well as telling you all about our wonderful people, we also thought we’d provide an explainer of what the NEC is, what the officer positions are, and why it’s so crucial that you use your votes. We’ve also included some information about how the voting works and practical ways for you to support our campaign. Since there is a lot of information, this is a long post, so grab yourself a cuppa before you start.

In solidarity,

UCU Commons

The UCU Commons election slate

We have six UCU Commons candidates contesting NEC seats this year, as well as three that were elected unopposed. We’re also supporting four other candidates who are not UCU Commons members, but who align with our values. Our six candidates are:

• Matthew Barnard (he/him) for North West HE
• Christopher O’Donnell (he/him) for UCU Scotland President
• Mark Pendleton (he/him) for UK-elected HE
• Sophia Woodman (she/her) for UK-elected HE
• Bijan Parsia (he/they) for Representative of Disabled Members
• Matilda Fitzmaurice (she/her) for Representative of LGBT+ Members

You can read more about them all on our 2025 NEC elections site.

The UCU Commons candidates elected unopposed are:

• Caroline Proctor (representative for Midlands HE)
• Vivek Thuppil (representative for Migrant Members (non-EU))
• Ben Pope (representative for casually employed members)

The other candidates supported by UCU Commons are:

• Dyfrig Jones (UCU Vice President HE)
• Andrew Feeney (UCU Honorary Treasurer)
• David Bretherton and Jackie Grant (representatives for South HE)

Dyfrig Jones has his own campaign website, which we strongly recommend checking out here.

Important information

The National Executive Committee (NEC) is the principal decision-making body of the union. All National FE and HE reps sit on NEC, which is chaired by the President (currently, that’s Maxine Looby, but after Congress in May 2025 the baton will be handed to Maria Chondrogianni). NEC makes decisions about cross-sectoral matters, including the management of our Fighting Fund, which is used by both sectors, led by Congress, which sets policy.

The Higher Education Committee (HEC) and Further Education Committee (FEC) are comprised of the National reps from those sectors. HEC has about 40 members and FEC about 20. UCU Commons do not have any FE candidates at this stage but are very keen to change this going forward.

HEC makes decisions about matters relating to the HE sector only, including Industrial Action. Who sits on HEC is crucial to the length and type of industrial action we call.

Turnout for these elections was very low: in 2022, some 5% of FE and 7% of HE members cast their vote. When you consider 60% of HE members voted on whether to take industrial action in autumn 2022, but only 7% voted for the committee that makes decisions about industrial action, it’s hard to believe. Sadly, anti-Trade Union laws mean this must be a postal vote. Don’t be disenfranchised - have your say!

The Vice President is a senior elected officer who acts as chair of their sector conference and their sector committee (HEC or FEC) for two years, before acting as chair of NEC in their year as President. The Vice President is elected on an annual basis alternating between HE and FE, so since David Hunter was elected VP FE in 2024, a VP HE is up for election this year. The Vice President HE is the Chair of the UK HE negotiators, a member of the USS negotiating team and usually chairs the Superannuation Working Group. They represent the union both to members and externally, and determine the composition of panels formed to hear complaints under the Rule 13 (regulation of the conduct of members) procedure. The candidate elected as Vice President will become President-elect, then President, then Immediate Past President in annual succession.

The Honorary Treasurer is an elected officer with a governance role: a specific responsibility for the union’s finances, and ensuring the union’s financial viability. Among other duties, the Honorary Treasurer reports annually on the union’s finances, presents and recommends an annual budget to NEC and to Congress, as well as quarterly management accounts. They also act as a co-signatory for the union’s bank accounts, and play a role in authorising expense claims of members and the General Secretary. The Honorary Treasurer serves a 2-year term.

Who can vote for what: UK-elected representatives are elected by the whole HE membership. Regionally-elected representatives are elected by members in those regions only (some regional seats are not up for election this year, and you will not be able to vote for candidates not in your region).

All members (HE and FE) can vote for equalities reps from both sectors, and you do not have to identify with the equality strand in question to cast a vote for that rep. Please cast a vote for every position you can vote for!

Voting Practicalities

Ballot papers and candidate election addresses are sent out by post, and must be returned by post, in the enclosed prepaid envelope. It is very important to make sure that UCU has your correct employer and address, and you can check and change these on MyUCU (login details needed). If you don’t spend much time in the office (or have an office and pigeon hole at all), we recommend using your home rather than your work address.

If you do not receive your ballot pack, there will be an opportunity to order a replacement. We will share this date closer to the time. The voting period closes on Monday 3rd March, so we recommend returning your ballot at least five days in advance of this.

The voting system for these elections is Single Transferable Vote. This means that you number candidates according to preference (1, 2, 3 etc.) so do not add ticks or crosses to boxes. Use as many preferences as there are candidates you are prepared to vote for. If there is a candidate you are not prepared to see get elected, do not give them a preference.

How you can support our campaign

We need you to vote, but we also need your help in getting our supported candidates elected. UCU elections are fought and won through conversations on the ground, in our workplaces. You can help us in the following ways:

• Share our black and white election flyers (see below) digitally with your UCU friends, colleagues and wider networks

• If you’re able to, print out the flyers and distribute them across your department and within your workplace. Good places for them include noticeboards, pigeon holes or common staff areas such as coffee rooms. You could also put them under your colleagues’ office doors, or stick one on your own office door.

• Forward this email to 5-10 of your UCU contacts, and ask those contacts to do the same.

  

  

We will be sending out regular posts as the election period gets underway, with more information about our UCU Commons candidates and those we are supporting. For now, please look out for your ballot pack arriving in the post and vote!