UNI STUDENTS SUING OVER STAFF STRIKES
Group wants compensation for paid-for teaching time lost during action
M ORE than 150 students in Wales have joined a £5m group legal action to fight for compensation for teaching time paid for but lost during the bitter university staff strike over pensions.
The international law firm behind the group action says universities could face paying £10m each in compensation.
Across the UK, 65 universities – including four in Wales – were hit by 14 days of walk-outs by members of the University College Union in a row over pensions.
With 5,000 students now signed up, Asserson, the law firm that brought together the compensation claim group, estimates the claim against universities has already risen to £5m with the potential to rise to £20m.
Support for legal action includes 109 students from Cardiff, 35 from Aberystwyth and seven from Bangor universities.
A barrister from commercial chambers One Essex Court in London said the action is likely to succeed because: “The overall merits appear to favour the students; they are consumers who have paid a significant fee in exchange for tuition, a proportion of which has simply not been provided.”
A total of 16 per cent of those signed up are from outside the EU. They have paid on average £13,800 for their 201718 tuition, significantly more than the maximum of £9,250 which UK and EU students pay, and could be entitled to higher compensation, lawyers said.
Shimon Goldwater, a senior solicitor at Asserson, said: “The compensation claim against universities is building rapidly.
“Students are telling us that they have been following advice from their unions and the universities to use standard complaints procedures when asking for compensation, with absolutely no sign of progress.
“This claim shows that thousands of students are not willing to sit by and pay for a service which was cancelled.”
He estimated universities have saved millions of pounds by withholding salaries from lecturers for days they were on strike. According to responses to Freedom of Information requests, Russell Group universities alone have withheld around £8m in salaries from striking staff, Mr Goldwater added.
Universities in Wales said money withheld from striking staff salaries would go back into the schools they worked in and/or to student hardship funds.
David Netherwood, a postgraduate student from Cardiff University, which has seen the number of students signing up to the group action more than double from 44 in April to 109, said: “It is great to hear that the number of people signing up is increasing every week. To sign up for the class-action lawsuit is so easy, it just takes five minutes maximum.
“The way I see it is that you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by being a part of it. The universities will only hear us as a collective group, and with the numbers we have at the moment, they will not be able to ignore us for much longer.”
The strike action was put on hold in April after staff voted to accept an offer to reopen negotiations with employers over their pensions.
The ballot of 50,000 University and College Union members in higher education found a substantial majority in favour of accepting the offer, which establishes a joint committee of experts to evaluate pensions provided through the University Superannuation Scheme (USS).
A Cardiff University spokesperson said: “We recognise disruption caused by the industrial action has been a source of great concern for some of our students. Our priority and commitment throughout has been, and continues to be, to ensure that all students are provided with appropriate opportunities for learning and assessment.
“Our current position regarding potential compensation is clear: the point at which a student should seek to make a complaint in relation to the impact of the industrial action will be at the end of the academic year, following the application of the mitigating measures.
“If at this stage a student remains dissatisfied they can submit a complaint through the University Complaints Procedure which allows financial compensation as one of a number of remedies.”
By signing up, students are instructing Asserson Law Offices as their solicitors for this claim.
At a later stage, the students will elect a committee of students to represent them to Asserson.
“This relieves students of the burden of day to day involvement in the claim, and means that students will not need to attend court or participate in the trial unless they want to. However, any decisions regarding the settlement of claims will be taken by the whole group attending the relevant university,” a spokesman said.
Asserson plans to apply soon for a Group Litigation Order once adverse costs insurance is in place to protect students from any costs risk.
Asserson said it will also be seeking funding for the claim from specialist litigation funding firms.
To join the claim, students need to visit www.universitycompen sation.co.uk