Industrial Action

When are the strikes due to take place?

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced strikes on the following dates: 

 

  • Monday 28 April
  • Tuesday 29 April
  • Thursday 1 May
  • Tuesday 6 May
  • Thursday 8 May

Where can I find information about the strikes and their potential impact on students?

The University has an information page that answers the most common questions students might have.

Will I be penalised for missing a cancelled class?

The University says there will be no penalty for missing a class that has been cancelled due to the strike. If you are on a professional course, your attendance record will not be affected.

 

If you are here on a Student Visa and an “expected contact” such as a lecture, seminar or individual supervisory discussion is cancelled due to industrial action, this will not be recorded as an unauthorised absence. This is outlined in the Student Sponsor Guidance.

 

Please note, if a compulsory class takes place and you don't attend, normal penalties will apply. Don't assume your classes have been cancelled by the strike - check all communication channels carefully to confirm whether your teaching is taking place.

What can I do if I've been affected by the strikes and I want to complain?

We have advice about the University's complaints process on our Complaints page.

 

If you have been affected by the strikes, here are some steps you can take to strengthen a complaint:

 

  • Record Keeping: Keep a detailed record of what you have missed due to the industrial action, such as teaching, supervision, access to university facilities and services. Explain in your complaint how missing each of these has impacted you and your studies.
  • Evidence: If you have lost out on any money or entitlement, keep receipts so you can provide them as evidence. For example, if you had a notetaker scheduled for a lecture that was cancelled at short notice, you may have had to pay for the service even though the lecture did not occur, or you may have unnecessarily used up some of your DSA hours. If you were given wrong information, or a class was cancelled at the last minute, keep any written evidence of this (such as emails or Teams messages).
  • University Mitigation Efforts: Consider whether the university has taken steps to compensate for the strikes. For instance, if you missed a class, has the School provided alternative learning formats, such as recordings of previous classes?
  • Accessibility: If the university has provided alternative arrangements, assess whether your needs have been met. If you have a disability, consider whether the alternative arrangements have been more detrimental to you compared to able-bodied students.

You may also want to consider how the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) might view the university's actions. The OIA is an independent body set up to review student complaints, and you can take your case to them once you've gone through the University's internal complaints process, so their case summaries are useful to read through when working on your complaint - see below for more information about this.

What can I do if I'm unhappy with how the University handled my complaint?

Once you've been through each stage of the university's complaints process, you can take your case to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA).

 

The OIA has guidance on what they would look for if a student complained to them. They will review what the university promised in its contract and promotional materials, and what students could reasonably expect in terms of contact hours and learning opportunities. They will then assess whether the university has met those expectations and whether suitable alternatives were provided during the strike. If the university failed to meet expectations, the OIA will consider whether the university made any efforts to mitigate the disruption.

 

The OIA has published some real-life case summaries, so you can see some examples of cases and their outcomes. Several complaints against universities have been upheld in the past because the university hadn't made up for lost learning opportunities. This is a quote from one case summary as an example:

 

We decided the University had taken appropriate steps to minimise the academic impact of the industrial action. However, it had not taken any steps to make up for the lost teaching hours and the learning opportunities they represented. We explained that, in our experience, most students don’t study at higher education providers purely to gain a qualification. Students who expect to learn about a particular subject but who don’t receive the teaching they are supposed to get are not adequately compensated by the provider undertaking not to test them on it. It is reasonable to expect providers to make some attempt to make up for what has been missed, but this doesn’t have to be like-for-like replacement teaching hours.'

 

Something else they consider is whether an individual student's needs have been met. One case outcome states:

 

The University had not recognised the individual effect of the industrial action on the student, and had not considered whether it would be reasonable to take further action or to provide additional support because of the student’s individual circumstances. In particular, the University hadn’t thought about giving the student a deadline extension for their other modules so that the deadlines were spaced out; the student had explained at the time that grouping deadlines together was increasing their anxiety.'