Everything You Need to Know About Industrial Action
Friday 07-11-2025 - 12:50
Information from LUSU on Industrial Action.
Statement from Liz Gillett, Education Officer 25/26
“Your Students' Union will continue to keep students informed as the situation changes and develops. As always, we will support all students, including postgraduate research students who may be members of UCU and participating in industrial action themselves. We are committed to advocating for a solution that protects and supports students' academic performance this academic year, and into the future.”
Why is industrial action happening?
The Lancaster branch of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) have voted to commence action short of a strike from Monday 10th November. This action is limited to Lancaster University and has been called in response to the planned staff redundancies as part of the University’s LU Future project.
Read the UCU announcement of action short of a strike here.
Watch Rory’s explainer on the debate around LU Future here:
Watch Liz’s explainer on action short of a strike here:
When is industrial action due to take place?
From Monday 10th November, academic members of Lancaster University staff who are members of UCU will begin: working to rule, refusing to cover for absent colleagues, nor undertake activity outside of their job description.
The industrial action could last for up to 6 months.
The Students’ Union will endeavour to protect the experience of all our members, including postgraduate research students who themselves may participate in industrial action.
Throughout the period of industrial action, we will seek to lobby both the University and UCU to:
- avoid further escalation;
- mitigate disruption to teaching, learning and supervision; and
- secure a resolution that protects the experience of students at Lancaster for the long term.
What can I do if I am affected?
Not all members of academic staff are members of UCU, and not all members will choose to take part in industrial action. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the University is facing unprecedented levels of staff sickness whilst a notable large number of those who voted in the UCU ballot were in favour of action short of a strike (94%).
You may experience disruption via:
- Teaching that is missed or rescheduled, in most instances we do not expect that you will receive prior notice,
- Delayed marks and feedback on assessments,
- Inability to access staff office hours, tutorials or supervisory meetings,
- Cancelled staff-led co-curricular activity.
Please be aware that all Students’ Union and student-led activity will remain unaffected by the industrial action. That means society, club, and forum events will still take place as normal.
If you are affected, you may wish to take one or more of the below suggested actions:
Speak to your department or school – academic departments will be putting in place contingency plans to mitigate the impact of industrial action. Your department should contact you directly regarding any changes to your timetable or academic deadlines. If you believe your department has not put in place appropriate mitigation, then please contact them directly or contact us on reps@lancaster.ac.uk.
Speak with your Academic Reps - speak with your Reps and provide them with information on how industrial action has impacted upon your studies. Reps can collate this information and communicate with your department, school, or faculty.
Keep records - keep detailed records of how industrial action has affected you including dates/times of missed teaching hours. This will be helpful in case you decide to take more formal action at a later date. If you have an ILSP take note of how industrial action has impacted upon your plan.
Download our template record: Word / Excel
What further action can I take?
After speaking with your department regarding industrial action, you may wish to submit a formal complaint to the University. You will need to think about how you have been impacted, and what you would like as an outcome, for instance:
• Has cancelled teaching affected your ability to reach your academic potential? How could this be rectified?
• Has industrial action led to lab experiments being cancelled or damaged? What could be done to correct this?
• Has delayed marks and feedback on an assessment impacted later academic or employment opportunities? How could this be resolved?
Formal Complaint:
In order to submit a formal complaint, students must complete the online form.
You will need your Lancaster University login credentials in order to access the form. If you do not have these, or if you are unable to access the form, please contact complaints@lancaster.ac.uk.
We recommend that, if possible, you submit a complaint as a cohort.
You will need to appoint a spokesperson. If anyone in the group has faced additional hardship they should submit an additional complaint as an individual.
The Advice Team can support students in the following ways:
• Explain the University’s complaints procedure.
• Help you to construct your complaint and advise on any evidence you can submit to support your case.
• Support you to attend any meetings with the University in relation to your complaint.
• Help you to submit your complaint to the Office of Independent Adjudicator (OIA) if you are dissatisfied with the outcome you receive.
Will I get compensation?
It is possible to request compensation as part of a formal complaint, but there is no guarantee that a request for compensation will be successful. The Advice Team are unable to advise students regarding quantifying how much compensation they may wish to ask for.
If you are considering requesting financial compensation, then we would advise you to take a look at the following links which you may find useful:
• Industrial Action FAQ for Students
• Protecting the interests of students during Industrial Action
How do I get further advice?
The Advice Team are here to support all students. Groups of students may also want to contact their Academic Reps to help collate the impact of Industrial Action and prepare a group complaint:
https://lancastersu.co.uk/advice
