190404 Open Correspondence from the Surrey UCU Committee

Dear Professor Lu

We are formally communicating with you ahead of your Town Hall Meeting on Friday 5th April as we welcome your move towards direct engagement with University of Surrey staff members.

Based on the indicative figures presented to the unions earlier this week, it is clear that over 80% of the £15m savings target that University of Surrey has set itself could potentially be achieved as a result of the recruitment freeze and approved EVS applications.

Notwithstanding that a business case has not been presented for the necessity of such savings, we believe that to restore confidence, it is important that the University now focuses on non-staff cost savings.

As a consequence, we request that staff are reassured at the Town Hall meeting on Friday that no compulsory redundancies are currently planned or intended in the second stage of the Continuous Improvement Programme.

We sincerely hope that restoring confidence is now your primary objective and priority.

Kind regards

Surrey UCU Committee