University cutting jobs as it faces a £21m deficit
CARDIFF University is cutting jobs as it struggles to tackle a £21m operating deficit in the face of funding cuts and rising costs.
It has offered all 7,000 staff voluntary severance, but is not ruling out compulsory redundancies.
A university spokesman said it was unusual for institutions such as Cardiff to run at a deficit, but in 2017-18 it has faced funding cuts of £11m, no increase in tuition fees for six years, lower growth in research income and increased staff costs.
In joint-statement the Cardiff University branches of Unite, Unison, and UCU accused the university of mismanagement and warned, although staff morale is at rock bottom, they would fight any compulsory job losses.
The university outlined its cost-cutting plans, called Transforming Cardiff, in a video message emailed to all staff and since put on Youtube. In it, the university says it faces an operating deficit of £21m in 2017-18 which it aims to turn into a surplus.
It also accuses the Welsh Government of putting Welsh universities at a disadvantage compared with those across the border because it stopped them increasing tuition fees to £9,250 – a move it says cost Cardiff alone £5m per cohort. But the main budget squeeze has come from funding cuts from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), it adds.
“Just before the start of this financial year we had our grant funding from HEFCW cut by £14m, subsequently revised to £11m, but with a forecast of £6m scheduled for next year,” says the video statement
The university, which has 30,000 students, adds: “Fees have not increased for the last six years...We have also been put at a disadvantage to English Universities by not being allowed by the Welsh Government to increase fees to £9,250 let alone the £9,295 promised. An increase to £9,250 would have brought in an extra £5m per cohort.
“Our research income has not grown as fast as other universities. Research income is not growing as fast as awards forecast.”
With staff costs rising the university is now looking to reduce the proportion of income spent on staff costs from the current 59% to around 54%.
But, in a joint-statement, the Cardiff University branches of Unite, Unison, and UCU said: “We are astonished that Cardiff University staff are facing their third voluntary severance scheme in six years, and we are very worried that the vice-chancellor still refuses to rule out further compulsory redundancies.
“We are also gravely concerned that the proposed severance scheme will cause inequality and division among our already demoralised members.
“We are in this situation because of continued mismanagement at the highest level. Only last year we were told that the University’s budget deficit was predicted and manageable, but now our jobs are on the line yet again.”
“The only thing which changed the vice-chancellor’s mind over this year’s proposed pension raid was concerted industrial action. The looming threat of compulsory redundancies is a major worry for all three campus trade unions and we are all now consulting our members so we can unite in defence of our jobs should the need arise.”
A Cardiff University spokesman said the university’s governing body is aware and has approved a deficit budget for the next financial year 2018/19 but with a target to deliver surpluses again from 2019/20.