Published at 08:37, Friday, 05 February 2010

All 1,700 staff at the University of Cumbria have been told there is no cash to honour a nationally-agreed pay rise.

Tim Farron, second left, and staff present the petition at Downing Street

The University of Cumbria has invoked a rarely-used financial hardship clause in the 0.5 per cent deal which allows any institution to defer the rise for up to 11 months if it helps to minimise job cuts.

The pay rise, which would add approximately £22,000 a month to Cumbria University’s costs, should have been awarded last month and backdated to August 1.

The 1,700-strong workforce has been told that university leaders will look again in May, with a hope of awarding the rise in July but without any backdated pay.

Union leaders have requested details of the university’s accounts to ensure that the argument is sound.

Together the University and College Union (UCU) and Unison represent more than 80 per cent of the staff across the cash-strapped institution, around 1,250 workers.

Dr Trevor Curnow, UCU branch secretary, said: “People are fed up but on the other hand half a per cent is not a life-changing amount of money when they are more concerned about their jobs. It has annoyed people on top of everything else.

“We’ve got the full financial records of the university and we’ve sent them to our headquarters to see if they can’t afford the pay and it seems that they can’t.”

He added: “Half a per cent doesn’t really cost a lot but if you can’t afford it then you must be skint. It is a barometer of the financial situation.”

Staff are expected to be dealt another blow today when the latest decisions taken by the university board are released.

Cumbria University is currently grappling with a financial crisis. It has built up a £20 million deficit since it opened less than three years ago, in August 2007.

Leaders are radically rewriting the business plan to ensure its future is secure and sustainable over the next 10 years.

Up to 200 jobs are at risk, courses are to be cut and faculties look set to be reduced from five to three.

The university also says that it cannot build the Caldew Riverside campus in Carlisle in the next five years as originally intended, despite it forming an integral part of the city’s regeneration plans and economic future.

A bid for £25m of emergency funding is also being pulled together and is expected to be submitted to the Higher Education Funding Council within weeks.

If successful, the money would be used to upgrade existing university buildings and help academic leaders expand provision into Cumbrian areas of need such as energy and tourism.

A university statement said: “In January this year, all unions at a national level accepted that the talks in relation to the 2009 pay award had come to an end and the Universities and Colleges Employers’ Association advised its members to implement the 0.5 per cent pay award with January salaries.

“However, there is specific provision in the national agreement to withhold this increase for reasons of financial hardship, although there would be a commitment to review the institution’s ability to implement in July 2010, with no backdated pay, by the end of May 2010.”

The fate of the Ambleside campus was among the measures being discussed by governors at a crucial meeting in Lancaster yesterday.

Controversial proposals are to stop undergraduate courses at the campus, relocating around 450 existing teacher training and outdoor education students to Carlisle or Lancaster.

A 5,500-name petition opposing the move was handed in to 10 Downing Street on Wednesday.

The university board is not expected to agree the final draft of the revised business plan until it meets again at the end of next month.

About 180 employees – just over a tenth of the workforce – have expressed an interest in taking voluntary redundancy.

Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk