NEW: Staff at University of Edinburgh set to strike for five days as agreement falls through

Staff at the University of Edinburgh are set to strike for five days after an agreement with the university fell through.

The university announced that staff will take action from March 30th to April 3rd inclusive after a ballot passed on March 12th.

Staff will also take action short of a strike, such as refusing to cover absent colleagues and working to contract.

A previous agreement was in place between the University and College Union (UCU) and university that said no strike action would take place until April 28th.

In December last year a short-term deal was struck where management agreed to guarantee there would be no compulsory redundancies to the end of July 2026, and the union agreed to no further industrial action during the existing mandate which was due to end at the end of April 2026.

The union began to ballot members on overturning this agreement in February, with the result coming in March that staff supported further strike action.

The dispute continues over fears the university would enforce compulsory redundancies after the agreement was due to end in July.

The dispute has been running since February 2025

Claire Duncanson, vice-president of the Edinburgh UCU branch, said before this vote: “It was a clear win for members to get management to agree to rule out compulsory redundancies until the summer. There remains more to do however, and we need a new mandate for strike action if we’re going to be able to push management further on these clearly unnecessary cuts and job losses that take effect after July.

“As shown in the most recent annual report, the university’s finances are strong and healthy. The level of cuts management continue to propose are neither needed nor can they be carried out without substantially damaging education and research along with the student experience and staff working conditions.

“Twelve months after first announcing huge cuts without an idea how to go about it, and having put staff and students through needless stress and worry, the principal and his senior management team need to resolve this dispute and rule out the use of compulsory redundancies once and for all.”

In a statement to the student body, university deputy secretary Lucy Evans said the university does “not believe further escalation was necessary, and the university strongly refutes any suggestion that it has not upheld the terms of this agreement”.

She added: “While we respect the right of staff to take part in industrial action, we will do everything we can to protect our students from any disruption

“We are commited to supporting our students and staff. If you have any concerns about your studies, wellbeing or student life, please get in touch with your student adviser or supervisor, who can help you access the right support.”

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The strikes come after a year of disputes over the university’s cost-cutting measures that could see up to 1,800 jobs lost. The university has said it must take preventative measures as its costs are rising faster than its revenue, resulting in a future budget shortfall of £140 million.

The university’s latest accounts show its annual income for last year as £1,477 million, up from £1,424 million in the 2023/4 period. This puts the university at a surplus of £43 million pounds. The university also increased its surplus target in summer 2024.

Students and staff have protested the university’s cost-cutting measures

UCU president, Sophia Woodman, previously told The Tab Edinburgh: “A preliminary analysis of the University of Edinburgh’s latest Annual Report by the Joint Unions confirms what we have been saying all along.

“The university’s finances are healthy, income from tuition fees is growing and management’s insistence that the budget for salaries needs to be reduced by about 10 per cent is unnecessary and unfair.

“Such a level of staff cuts will have an enormously damaging impact on education and research at the university, as well as degrading working conditions.

“When the University of Edinburgh continues to make significant surplus and attract more students that ever before.

“While management has been keen to blame staff costs and external headwinds, the perceived financial stress is due to mismanagement over a number of years.”

In response, a university spokesperson said: “Like many universities across the country, Edinburgh is facing serious financial pressures.

“It is widely accepted that, across the sector, geopolitical uncertainty, rising costs and unsustainable funding for Scottish and other UK students have created significant challenges.

“Our university is not in deficit, but costs are rising faster than income, and without the difficult decisions already taken, our position would be far more fragile.

“It remains our position that, wherever possible, we will seek to avoid compulsory redundancies.

“Every decision we take, including on capital investment, is focused on protecting high-quality education, our students’ experience and world-leading research, while safeguarding the university for generations to come.”