Your ReadingUCU branch committee reported back to union members (at the OGM) on the recent (overarching) consultation group meeting where we met with management earlier this week . At this meeting with management, we discussed the (fully redacted) Transformation plan that was taken to Council. We discussed with management the proposed reduction of the professional services pay packet to a much smaller fraction of the total staff pay envelope.
At the OGM on Tuesday and subsequently, we examined with members the implications of this for colleagues in all roles. With reps, we have started to unpack both the supposed rationale and the next steps around how our branch intends to respond.
We are now writing to alert you to an important new announcement that senior management has made on Wednesday, that has potentially grave implications for all staff and students. https://portal.reading.ac.uk/staff/all-news/2026/july/Savings-plans-for-2026-27
As a small but crucial aside, we do intend to ask senior management how their transparency commitment, and their commitment to engage in meaningful consultation squares with not even mentioning this to us on Monday when we met.
There are many layers to the sentences in the announcement and no doubt more clarity will emerge in the coming days . Specifically, we want to alert members to certain segments, that we will be particularly interested in probing further.
- “Plans for the coming financial year already had embedded savings of £21.2m, in order to reduce our operating deficit from £33.1m in 2025/26 to £22.3m in 2026/27. More recent financial forecasting has shown that a further £11.3m of savings will now be required during 2026/27 to achieve the agreed deficit.”
- “As well as an element of ongoing external volatility, these additional savings largely reflect issues highlighted during development of the budget, including inconsistencies found between the planning and budget processes. Thanks to the very detailed nature of our budget setting process, these were identified so that an up-to-date picture could be considered by Council.”
- “The scale of savings required means the financial challenge facing the University has become greater than previously expected.”
- “The plans signed off by Council include tighter control of spending on central projects, goods and services, and continued investments in both systems improvements and income generation activities.”
- “Alongside this, significant savings will be required in both Professional Services and Academic Schools, supported by investment in activity designed to create more efficient ways of working.”
- “However, vacancy controls alone will not deliver all the savings required. While no redundancy programme is currently planned, restructuring cannot be ruled out as plans are developed.”
- “…This has to include applying our reserves to strategic development rather than continuing to rely on reserves to maintain a deficit position”
Since the announcement, your committee has had internal discussions within the committee and has met with reps, In addition to substantive concerns about governance, jobs, students and workload, we remain concerned that the statement contains opaque numbers and that it does not reflect the gravity of the consequences for staff and students.
We recommend that all staff seek clarity and particularly listen out for subtext, during the rescheduled All Staff talk : Q&A session that will be hosted by senior management on Tuesday next week.
We would also be grateful if members (and indeed any concerned staff) could drop a quick note with thoughts on or concerns about the points in the Staff Portal message listed above.
Also, please let us know about H&S issues that you can see arising in your area from the senior management plans – please copy in Rita, RUCU H&S rep and Workload officer, if your email includes H&S concerns
Please also feel free to alert us to any matters including governance concerns or specifics in your local area, that you want us to pay particular attention to, as senior management start to unfold their plans.
FYI, UCU represents all staff grade 6 and above for collective bargaining purposes. A number of our members come from other grades at the University and we continue to value their contributions to the union, and support them in important areas including individual case work and more.
We look forward to hearing from you
In solidarity
Deepa
(Branch President – ReadingUCU)