Sheffield Hallam University (UCU) Strike Calendar

The action comes after an overwhelming 88% of UCU members who voted backed the action in a strike ballot with a turnout of 73% in a dispute over a threat from management to cut costs by £27m by the end of the academic year. This includes axing up to 200 academics from across the university, forcing teaching staff from university employment and into a subsidiary company, denying new starters access to the industry standard Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS), increasing maximum teaching hours, and tearing up national agreements on pay progression. The current cost cutting exercise follows two years of cuts that have already seen 1,000 staff leave the university.

The cuts come after the university spent tens of millions of pounds on a new London campus that was supposed to open last year yet remains empty. According to UCU's analysis, capital expenditure, including on the London campus, amounted to more than a fifth of Hallam's total income last year.

A vote has taken place concerning significant changes proposed for the university.

These proposals include potential job losses for up to 200 academic staff members.

There are plans to move existing teaching-focused staff onto private company contracts, which would result in their removal from the industry standard Teachers' Pension Scheme (TPS).

New academic starters would no longer be offered TPS, instead being limited to a defined contribution pension scheme.

Research contracted staff would also be moved from TPS to the Local Government Pension Scheme.

Additionally, documented agreements concerning maximum teaching time are set to be abolished, along with nationally agreed pay progression.

The stated reason for these proposed reductions in jobs, terms, and working conditions is a necessary £26.6 million in cuts for the upcoming year.

The institution has already reduced its workforce by over 800 staff in the three preceding years of cuts.

The dispute at the University of Sheffield centres on management's plans to put staff in five academic areas at risk of redundancy, as well as a continued risk of redundancy to professional services staff across the university. The full details and number of job losses have yet to be confirmed by the university but are expected in the next two weeks. The university previously announced reviews of academic staffing in chemistry; civil engineering; the management school; materials science and engineering; and the school of East Asian studies, with restructures expected. Sheffield plans to cut at least £5m by slashing staff and has made clear it is also willing to pursue more cuts by changing the size and shape of departments.

At Sheffield Hallam, the dispute centres on management's refusal to rule out compulsory redundancies, despite already having slashed around 500 jobs in 2024 and a further 170 since May 2025. Even though 170 staff have left through a voluntary severance scheme, the university is refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies and wants to axe up to 80 more jobs.