Bristol Uni plan to cut student wellbeing roles by 14 per cent and restructure services

A University of Bristol spokesperson said: “The mental health and wellbeing of our community is at the heart of decision making across the University. Bristol has one of the highest levels of investment in this area in the sector at £5 million a year.

“We are seeking to rebalance and refocus the work of the wellbeing service replacing the need for referral with direct and immediate access to appointments with wellbeing advisers. Under the proposals, which are based on feedback from students, we are investing in new specialist mental health and sexual violence liaison roles. We have over 100 FTE staff working in our wellbeing and mental health services – this includes 43 FTE roles in the wellbeing service currently. Under our latest proposals which include newly created and some redistribution of existing roles, we are looking at an overall reduction of approximately six FTE roles so we will continue to have some of the largest and best resourced services of any university in the UK.

“We recognise that any change will cause uncertainty and concern and we have spent the last six weeks actively seeking feedback. During this time, we have received a wide range of views, which we have listened to very carefully, and in some cases changed our plans to reflect. No changes or decisions have yet been made and colleagues will continue to be fully involved as this process progresses.”