We want to reassure you that we are actively listening and responding to your feedback. Over the past week, many students have expressed concern and confusion regarding the University’s Redundancy Proposals. As your Executive Officer Team, we recognise that this news may have come as a shock and understandably may have caused anxiety and upset.
We want to reassure you that we are actively listening and responding to your feedback. Over the past week, many students have expressed concern and confusion regarding the University’s Redundancy Proposals. As your Executive Officer Team, we recognise that this news may have come as a shock and understandably may have caused anxiety and upset.
As your Executive Officer Team, we want you to reassure you that we are actively listening and responding to your feedback.
What does Redundancy Mean?
Redundancy is a potentially fair reason for dismissal. It usually occurs when an employer needs to reduce their workforce. This is not related to an employee’s performance but happens because the role itself is no longer required.
What we know so far
The University has announced proposals with the aim of reducing staff costs by 10%. These proposals affect both academic and professional services staff.
- The redundancy proposals involve the equivalent of up to 265 full-time positions.
- The redundancy proposals involve 166 full-time equivalent roles in professional services, 17 in leadership roles and 82 in academic positions.
- Affected staff were invited to meetings on 15th and 16th October 2025 where they were told about these proposals and how they impacted them. Letters were then posted on 17th October to home addresses confirming the information given in these meetings. Consultation process begins 29th October, lasting at least 45 days. During this time, the University is open to receive applications for voluntary redundancy and this may help reduce the need to make compulsory redundancies. Where pools have not closed through voluntary means, and subject to consultation, it may be necessary for redundancy selection processes to take place and currently this is projected to take place between early/mid-December and continuing into the new year.
- At the moment, all proposals and processes are subject to consultation and may change.
- Two voluntary schemes have been introduced:
- Voluntary Redundancy: for those at risk or those provisionally selected for redundancy as part of the proposals.
- Voluntary Severance: open to all other eligible staff to express an interest.
What is the Union of Students doing about this
- We are holding daily meetings to discuss feedback and next steps regarding the student voice surrounding University Redundancy Proposals.
- Union President, Anshika, and Vice President (Education), Sam, alongside Union Chief Executive Officer (CEO) have met with Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) and Chief People Officer (CPO) of the University of Derby to gain insight into why these decisions have been made, and share some feedback which had been shared by many of our dedicated Student Reps.
- We are encouraging all students to provide feedback. Head to our campaign page to see how you can submit your feedback.
- We have been in contact and are currently requesting a meeting to discuss these proposals with the University and College Union (UCU) which represents academic and professional staff.
- We have set up a meeting between your Executive Officer Team, a Union of Students Minute Taker, and the following University of Derby Executive Staff members: the DVC, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the CPO. Before this meeting we invite you to share your questions by completing the feedback form at the bottom of this statement. Please submit your responses by 9am on Wednesday 29th October to ensure they can be included.
- Once the form closes, we will review all submissions, group them into key themes, and refine the questions to ensure they are presented in the most impactful way. These questions will then be asked during the meeting at 1pm on the same day, and our Minute Taker will record the responses provided by the DVC, CFO, and CPO.
The best place to stay up to date with our progress is our campaign page
We, as your Executive Officer Team, would like to thank all of the students who have shared their feedback so far, and we are committed to ensuring they are acknowledged by University leadership.
Please continue to share your feedback to our Student Voice team via our online form, and if you would like to submit a question for your Executive Officer Team to share with the University, you can do so online:
Share Feedback to the Union Submit a question to the University
We are aware of alternative student feedback routes being circulated; however, we encourage all students to submit their feedback via the official Union of Students mechanisms (forms listed above, or contacting the Student Voice team directly via email) to ensure it gets fed back to the University directly.
We are dedicated to supporting you to make the most out of your University of Derby experience, and we believe that this is a decision the university should be challenged on. We will support students to ensure clearer communication from the university in future; however, we are working to fully understand the rationale behind it so that any challenge we make is informed, strategic and impactful.
During this time, we ask if these Redundancy Proposals are impacting your university experience, please book an appointment with our free, confidential and independent advice service, who can offer individual support on a range of topics including academic and wellbeing.
To stay up to date with our progress and next steps regarding the University Redundancy Proposals, head to our campaign page.