University of South Wales staff threaten walkout over job losses

The University of South Wales said almost 100 applications have been accepted as part of the voluntary redundancy programme announced earlier this year

Staff at the University of South Wales are threatening strike action as jobs go. Campus union Unison said staff are burned out and cannot provide the service they should to students.

The University of South Wales (USW) announced 200 redundancies earlier this year and jobs are beginning to be shed as well as vacancies left unfilled. The union’s strike warning comes as universities across Wales face a combined £97m financial black hole.

Unison said USW has already shed more than one in 10 business and professional support staff roles in two years.

Remaining workers are “burned out” and won’t be able to provide students a proper service if more jobs go, the union claimed.

Unison said the cuts affect lower-paid workers and “the university wants to create new management roles, including one which will pay an annual salary of more than £100,000”.

Unison branch secretary Dan Beard said: “Staff cannot provide the same level of excellence to students with 10% fewer workers.

“The employees who remain will face impossible workloads. Some already report working 50 hours a week.

“It’s insulting for the university to tell staff more cuts are needed when senior managers won’t be affected. No wonder they’re asking for a ballot on industrial action.

“The university is stuck in a doom loop of cuts and must rethink its plans or risk strike action.”

A USW spokesman said to date almost 100 applications have been accepted as part of the voluntary redundancy programme announced earlier this year.

They said “non-essential vacancies are being removed” as well as part of the cuts.

The spokesman added: “We announced in March that we were seeking to reduce our workforce by approximately 200 roles in response to ongoing external challenges. The first step of this was a voluntary redundancy programme.

“We have also been looking for further ways to reduce our workforce such as the removal of all non-essential vacancies and service redesign.

“A consultation with some of our professional services areas and business school, and recognised trade unions, is now under way on proposals, which may regrettably include redundancies.”

Universities across Wales are under financial pressure with hundreds of jobs lost and degree courses cut in the last few years. The institutions have a combined £97m operating deficit with matters likely to get worse before they get better and more job cuts likely.

The financial blackhole in 2024-25 swelled by £20m compared to the £77m deficit in 2023-24 although some of the increase is down to one-off costs of redundancies as part of savings programmes to try to balance books, university financial reports show. The 2025-26 figures won’t be out until later this calendar year or early next year.

University bosses across Wales and the UK say they have been hit by a perfect storm of financial problems from falling numbers of higher-paying international students to largely static home tuition fees, increased costs, and diminished income. Debate is mounting over the value of university degrees amid concern over escalating interest rates for student loans and lack of graduate jobs.