Dear Colleagues?

You have probably seen reports in the media that the University is proposing to ‘axe 200 jobs’.

I am writing to you to clear up some confusion that these reports have created.

No ‘axing’ is going to happen and while the ‘200’ figure is about right? we are talking about posts and not jobs.

That distinction is important because we are going to take that number of posts out of the University over an 18 month period. During that time we expect that a number of people will leave the University because they find new jobs or retire? and the University will be running a voluntary severance scheme. We are making genuine efforts to ensure that we protect as many jobs as we can.

Talks have been held with the trade unions and we will be continuing discussions about how job losses can be minimised.

Many of you will be aware that the University has been reviewing the performance of several academic areas and that difficult decisions have been taken. Changes in the make up of our staff will affect all parts of the University.

If you are line managing staff without access to University email systems, please find a way of passing this message to them.

Yours sincerely,

Simon Higman