Higher Education Committee Report: 4 July 2025
Headlines:
- HEC approved a consultation of members on an industrial action ballot on pay and conditions starting soon
- HEC approved coordination with other unions in JNCHES negotiations with UCEA on a shared timetable for industrial action next academic year
Overview
This meeting was the first for this year’s cohort of HEC members, and the first chaired by the newly elected UCU Vice-President, Dyfrig Jones, who will chair the Committee this year.
There was very significant UCU business on the agenda, including how to implement various motions passed at UCU Congress 2025. One set of such motions called for a national ballot on pay following UCEA’s derisory 1.4% pay offer concluding this year’s round of negotiations on HE pay and conditions. These negotiations are conducted between UCEA, representing most HE employers, and five unions representing HE workers: UCU, Unison, Unite, GMB and EIS. Another Congress motion on the agenda was the proposal that UCU seek to pursue industrial action against the Secretary of State for Education “highlighting the direct link between sector funding, employment conditions and student experience”, as outlined in Congress motion HE14. This idea was developed by members in various branches. UCU obtained independent legal advice on this proposal, a summary of which was presented to HEC members. Also on the agenda was a report from the HEC Secretary focusing primarily on the negotiations with UCEA, with recommendations on how UCU should respond.
Despite the significant business to get through, the first hour of the meeting was taken up with procedural wrangling over proposals to reorder the agenda. UCU Commons members supported the position of the chair, which was that sticking to the order in the agenda as distributed in advance to all HEC members is important for accessibility reasons, as members may plan their participation based on the original order of items on the agenda, and that consequently there would not automatically be a vote at the beginning of the meeting to adopt the agenda. However, a challenge to the chair’s ruling passed, resulting in two motions on industrial action on the current pay claim (motions 5 and 7) being moved up the agenda to be taken together with a vote on a consultative ballot tabled by the Committee Secretary.
As well as reflecting the landscape of increasing numbers of branches in dispute with employers over proposed cuts, the section on reports from devolved nations resulted in a productive discussion of how UCU branches are using devolved powers over education in Wales and Scotland to address the multiple crises resulting from unrestrained marketisation of HE. One aspect has been encouraging scrutiny of higher education governance by ministers and parliaments in devolved nations, with some spectacular scenes recorded in the Scottish Parliament’s Education, Children and Young People Committee questioning of members of the University of Dundee’s senior leadership and the University of Edinburgh VC. These political events have usefully put broader patterns of governance failure on the political agenda, showing the lack of accountability and transparency of ‘leaders’ of universities who are more inclined to listen to management consultants than to staff. There was agreement from many HEC members that UCU should focus more on the pressing questions around HE governance.
Following the lunch break, HEC was briefed by the Committee Secretary on the status of negotiations with UCEA, and the position of the other four unions involved. At the time of the meeting, Unison, Unite, GMB and EIS had all already decided to conduct a consultation of their members on their willingness to take industrial action on this year’s pay claim, and were recommending rejection of UCEA’s offer. This means an unprecedented opportunity for HE unions to take coordinated action, and there has already been discussion of shared messaging and GTVO should formal ballots go ahead.
UCU negotiators contributed their understanding of the state of negotiations, and potential for such cross-union approaches to come to fruition. One area on which UCU negotiators continue to push UCEA is to address the crisis of redundancies in the sector, with UCU Commons members suggesting that a productive approach might be to propose to employers some of the creative ideas developed in anti-casualisation work. However, the push on job security has largely come from UCU, and other unions have been less active in this area during negotiations.
At the conclusion of discussion on the Committee Secretary’s report, HEC voted unanimously to accept its recommendation for a consultation of members on UCEA’s final offer that would conclude in mid-August to allow for coordination of ballot timetables with other unions. HEC members also voted to approve the preparation of co-badged flyers and other materials about this action, as well as to hold an additional special HEC in August after UCU’s consultative ballot closes to action the results.
Following this discussion, there was debate on two motions, both related to the decisions already taken. The debate on the first of these is described in more detail below. The second motion covers similar ground, while concentrating more on campaigning.
Due to the loss of time in the first part of the meeting, HEC did not manage to complete discussion on how to proceed with a potential claim against the Secretary of State, or debate remaining motions tabled by HEC members. While Commons members have taken a range of positions on the merits and likelihood of success of the proposed dispute with the Secretary of State, we all believe that developing innovative grassroots ideas such as this are essential for our union to build our collective strength and our capacity to change our sector. These ideas deserve to be treated seriously by our elected leadership and we were deeply disappointed that 'business-as-usual' bureaucratic wranglings prevented full discussion of this proposal on this occasion. The Committee Secretary noted that UCU staff would need a clear steer as soon as possible on whether to further pursue the Secretary of State dispute, but HEC did not provide that.
Consulting members is essential if industrial action is to be effective
We welcome HEC’s decision to consult members on UCEA’s ‘full and final’ offer. This should be standard procedure following the conclusion of negotiations, but the attitude of some members of HEC towards previous consultative ballots, together with the wording of motions passed at this year’s HESC, made it far from certain that HEC would vote for such a consultation. In the end, however, it did so unanimously.
HEC will ultimately have to decide how to respond to the results of the consultation, so we think it’s important that the committee engages with the details of the questions that are put to members (though the precise wording is ultimately approved by the sector officers). UCU Commons members Ben Pope and Vivek Thuppil submitted a motion proposing that the consultation ask:
a) whether members wish to accept or reject the offer and b) whether they are prepared to take industrial action in pursuit of an improved offer, linked to ‘a political campaign for a fully-funded sector calling for emergency measures to save jobs, courses and the sector’ and for ‘controlled student distribution’ (as resolved by HESC 2025 motions 2 and 16).
Whatever the merits of linking our ongoing political campaigns on sector funding and student distribution (which are of course devolved matters) to a UK-wide dispute on pay and certain pay-related claims, we felt that it was important to clearly communicate HESC’s resolutions on sectoral funding, as we know that many members feel both that we shouldn’t be prioritising a pay dispute right now and that tackling pay erosion and the stability of the sector may require different strategies. A successful statutory ballot and any subsequent industrial action will require the support of members who want UCU to focus firmly on protecting jobs. The crises of job security and long-term pay erosion obviously stem from the same underfunding and mismanagement of the sector, and we need to clearly communicate our determination to address these underlying problems.
Members will, of course, have different views on whether a UK-wide dispute of any kind is a better way to protect jobs than focusing all our efforts on local disputes at institutions threatening redundancies. Ben and Vivek’s motion also suggested that the consultation recommend that members reject UCEA’s offer, but make no recommendation on the question of industrial action. At the end of the day, UCU members as a collective are far better placed than HEC to gauge our readiness for the sort of UK-wide industrial action that is likely to move either employers or governments from their current position on sector funding, pay, job security or any other matters.
We also argued that encouraging genuine debate and full member engagement with the question of industrial action would be the best way to build our industrial strength—with the initial objective, of course, of achieving a strong enough statutory ballot result to make industrial action itself unnecessary. Other HEC members argued that a recommendation for industrial action would build more momentum and provide an earlier show of strength. We understand these arguments, but feel that deeper member engagement, as part of more intensive horizontal organizing, is an absolute necessity. HEC’s decision to make a voting recommendation in the consultation on industrial action closes down some opportunities in this respect, but we still encourage all members to discuss the question of industrial action with colleagues and other members and call for all points of view on this inherently challenging question to be respected.
HEC motions passed
Motion 5: Member Consultation on UCEA’s Final Offer
proposed by Ben Pope, seconded by Vivek Thuppil
HEC notes:
a) UCEA’s final offer in the 2025/26 New JNCHES pay round, dated 20 May;
b) the conclusion of the 2025/26 New JNCHES process following the final dispute resolution meeting on 2 July;
c) member consultations on UCEA’s final offer being conducted by other New JNCHES unions (e.g. Unison, closing 11 July; Unite, closing 16 July).
HEC resolves to:
1) consult members in JNCHES-participating institutions on UCEA’s final offer, asking a) whether members wish to accept or reject the offer and b) whether they are prepared to take industrial action in pursuit of an improved offer, linked to ‘a political campaign for a fully-funded sector calling for emergency measures to save jobs, courses and the sector’ and for ‘controlled student distribution’ (as resolved by HESC 2025 motions 2 and 16);
2) recommend that members reject UCEA’s offer; make no recommendation on the question of industrial action. /END
Amendment 5A proposed by Chris Pritchard
After “HEC Notes” add
- HEC’s obligation to implement decisions of HESC
And renumber accordingly
After “institutions on UCEA’s final offer” add
“, via a 4-week online consultation starting next week”
Delete “ make no recommendation on the question of industrial action”
and replace with
3) in line with HESC motion HE2, recommend and campaign for industrial action. /END
NB: While this amendment passed, the fact that the timetable outlined would not be possible to implement did not deter those who voted for it, as they said it could effectively be ignored.
Motion 7: Implement the HESC Mandate – National Industrial Action Ballot Now
proposed by Christina Paine, seconded by Donna Brown
HEC notes:
Motions 2 and 3 (HESC 2025) mandate a UK-wide industrial response to mass redundancies, casualised job losses (11,500), a desultory pay offer (25-26), and a broken HE funding model.
Dundee, Newcastle, and others have won great victories, through industrial action, and our greatest strength is to fight - all branches together – against these devastating attacks on our livelihoods.
HEC resolves to
1 Implement a UK-wide campaign this summer on
· the mass redundancies, pay, job security, and casualised losses.
· The systemic failure of HE funding.
2 Open a statutory aggregated industrial action ballot by early August, moving to industrial action in November 2025.
3 Declare a UK-wide industrial dispute once JNCHES mechanisms are exhausted.
4 Campaign with a clear timetable and political message, exposing the UK-wide crisis, and demanding urgent reform.
5 Ensure smaller branches are fully supported to campaign and win ballots- no branch left behind. /END
NB: HEC voted to remove ‘resolves’ 2 from this motion, as the timetable would have been in conflict with earlier decisions made.