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Sussex Uni is offering students up to £100 in compensation for strikes

It’s the first time a UK university has done this


The University of Sussex is currently offering students up to £100 in compensation for "distress and inconvenience" caused by the recent industrial action. In doing so, they have become the first British university to give reimbursements of this kind to students in the middle of industrial action taking place.

This week, Sussex emailed all students to invite them to apply for cash payouts as part of its "industrial action ex gratia scheme", resulting from the national University and College Union (UCU) strikes over the course of the Autumn term.

Students have expressed their concerns for the way the strikes affected not only their academic studies, but also their mental health and routine. One student told The Sussex Tab: "For the stability of my mental health, routine is really important and so my anxiety got a lot worse with the strikes in action.

"I am someone who completely supports the strikes and any member who wants to take part, but I had tutors who didn’t reply to my emails for five weeks and used the strikes as an excuse when the strikes were less than two weeks this term. I just think that in itself is completely unacceptable".

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In an email to students, Kelly Coate, the pro-vice chancellor for education and students said: "We do recognise that some students may have experienced distress and/or inconvenience during the strike days. So we have moved quickly to provide an opportunity for you to tell us if you feel you experienced any distress and inconvenience. The University of Sussex believes this is important to offer its students".

Students can apply for compensation through an online form on the University of Sussex's website by providing ratings which detail the way their learning was affected as either "minor, moderate or significant", and also assesses details of modules and their attendance record.

Students can apply for compensation here.