This page will be dedicated to providing you with all publicly available information in relation to Keele University’s 2019 Financial Sustainability Plan and Keele UCU’s response.

03/06/2019

We have put together an FAQ outlining some of UCU’s position paper on the financial sustainability plans main findings in plain English.

Please have a read: financial sustainability plan FAQs

21/05/2019

We have now released a redacted version of our position paper which you can download below:

16/05/2019

If you wish to receive a full copy of the UCU Position Paper – Financial Sustainability Plans, please email support@keeleucu.co.uk

02/04/2019

UCU MOTIONS
Motion 1 – 2 nd April 2019 – No confidence in SMT

Keele UCU has no confidence in the current Vice-Chancellor or senior management
team, or in their strategy and plans for the future of Keele University.
Through poor strategic planning and reckless use of University resources, the Vice-
Chancellor and senior management have led Keele into its current financial situation,
but have not taken responsibility.
Senior management’s plan to reduce staff numbers whilst continuing with over-spending
and misguided investing and growth strategies shows that they do not have the future of
Keele in mind. The proposed plan to make saving of 150 posts will entail a significant
depletion of the workforce and a long-term damage to the University of Keele, one it
might never recover from.
We believe the best way to save Keele University is for those who led the university into
the current situation to not be those that attempt to lead it out.
Keele UCU determines:

  1. The Senior Management Team of Keele University no longer holds the
    confidence of staff.
  2. Council must take urgent action to hold the Senior Management Team to account
    and to restore the confidence of staff, up to and including the dismissal of the
    Vice-Chancellor and Senior Management Team.

Motion 2 – 2 nd April 2019 – Spend where it’s needed and no compulsory
redundancies

Keele University is proud of its long-standing reputation for excellent research,
innovative teaching and student satisfaction. Success, growth and positive change are
not compatible with large reductions to our staff numbers, the slashing of research
support and the consistent undermining of specific disciplines – notably humanities and
social sciences – over others. This approach undermines, demoralises and ultimately
dismantles Keele’s ethos as a broad-based university.
The current proposals will have detrimental effect to staff morale, student experience
and research activities. Academic and administrative members of staff and our students
are not responsible for the dire status of the university’s finances.
Keele UCU determines:

  1. To oppose all job losses, redundancies and changes of contract and working conditions proposed by the University management.
  2. The strategic spending priorities of Keele must focus on supporting current students, education and research until Keele is in a financial position that would support ambitious expansion.
  3. There should be no further cuts to staff costs, excluding natural loss to staff due
    to factors such as turnover, beyond current March-April 2019 VS period, until 2021, when the ‘demographic dip’ is predicted to end, followed by a rapid growth in the UK school-leaver population.
  4. If further cuts to staff are needed, the Senior Management team and higher management must shoulder this in pay and non-pay costs.
  5. Keele UCU branch executive and officers must seek assurances from management that there will be no compulsory redundancies, and authorize the
    branch executive to open a dispute with the university if such assurances are not given.

Motion 3 – 2 nd April 2019 – Condemn unfair individual VS meetings
Individual Voluntary Severance meetings have been mandated as required within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. HR has stated that these will begin in other Faculties.
Keele UCU condemns:

  1. The use of required individual meetings which are applying pressure on staff.
  2. The profiling of staff by age, period employed at Keele, or any other criteria used to identify and target individual staff for meetings with specific management
    figures.
  3. The use of required individual meetings, without the written provision of an
    agenda or recorded minutes as non-transparent and bad practice, causing stress, anxiety and unequal procedures.