**Cardiff University Confirms Fewer Staff Face Job Cuts, but 650 Remain at Risk**
Cardiff University has announced a significant update regarding the ongoing wave of redundancies at the institution, revealing that hundreds of positions have now been secured but that the threat to jobs is far from over. As of this week, approximately 650 members of staff are still at risk of redundancy, following months of uncertainty and concern within the university community.
The revelation comes after the university’s senior management disclosed in January that wide-ranging cuts would be necessary to tackle a growing financial deficit, thought to be in excess of £31 million. Since these initial proposals were made, Vice-Chancellor Professor Wendy Larner has confirmed that 133 staff members have either left voluntarily, opted for redundancy, or departed the university for other reasons. This early exodus, in combination with negotiations involving academic departments and staff input, has resulted in changes to the scale of the planned cuts.
Originally, the university had set out to remove the equivalent of 400 full-time posts in an effort to stabilise its finances. However, following staff departures and departmental restructuring, the revised target now stands at 138 full-time equivalent positions. University executives have stressed that these reductions will occur over several years rather than as an immediate measure.
Professor Larner detailed in a recent address to staff that several departments whose employees had previously been listed as ‘at risk’ have now been removed from the redundancy consultation. Schools including healthcare sciences, medicine, biosciences, and English, communications and philosophy, have all seen the threat to their staff lifted. This reprieve is attributed not only to the number of staff taking voluntary exits, but also to the acceptance by management of alternative proposals put forward by the affected departments.
In a move that has been welcomed by many, the university has also agreed not to enforce any compulsory redundancies before the end of the 2025 calendar year. This commitment, achieved as part of discussions with the University and College Union (UCU), led to the suspension of planned strikes and a marking boycott earlier this month. Additionally, the initial proposal to close the school of nursing has been officially withdrawn, securing 40 to 50 jobs that would otherwise have been lost. Despite this, union representatives have remarked that the reversal comes after a number of key staff had already left nursing due to earlier closure threats.
Further reductions in the projected number of job losses have resulted from decisions to retain key academic programmes and to open a new campus in Kazakhstan later this year, which will create opportunities for staff relocation. For example, chemistry will maintain its medicinal chemistry BSc, and a fresh mathematics programme is to be developed. The Kazakhstan campus venture is expected to require 34 full-time equivalent positions, thus mitigating domestic reductions.
Despite these positive developments for some, Professor Larner acknowledged the anxiety that remains among staff whose jobs still hang in the balance. “I understand that the recent months have brought considerable distress and uncertainty,” she said. “While we have managed to reduce the number of posts at risk, I recognise this is little comfort to those still affected by the process.”
The Vice-Chancellor reiterated that the university remains committed to avoiding compulsory redundancies wherever possible, describing this route as a last resort for future workforce adjustments. Professor Larner said the university would continue to work with individual departments in hopes of removing as many staff as possible from the ‘at-risk’ category before any final decisions are made.
The University and College Union has yet to respond formally to the latest update. Widespread financial pressures across the UK’s higher education sector, including reduced international student numbers and escalated running costs, have been cited as core factors behind the difficult choices facing universities such as Cardiff.
Cardiff University’s leadership is expected to provide further updates as consultations progress, with staff and union representatives remaining closely engaged in discussions about the university’s direction and its significant financial challenge.