Emergency General Meeting about EASE, Monday 24th November at 1pm
This is a formal calling notice for an Emergency General Meeting of UCL UCU taking place online via zoom on Monday 24th November 2025 at 1pm to discuss the latest developments in the EASE restructuring project.
Members have been sent a registration link for this meeting.
This meeting has been called to discuss next steps in the defence of jobs and departmental autonomy in UCL. Academic Board met on Monday 27th October and passed motions reaffirming its earlier vote that the EASE restructure should be paused. These were discussed at UCL’s governing body, Council.
Despite AB voting 4:1 in favour of a ‘pause’ Council decided to go ahead anyway. See Appendix.
This means that colleagues in the Faculty of Brain Sciences are now facing pressure to accept posts in the new structure, or resign or accept a downgraded post with ‘pay protection’. Faculties which have not yet begun through EASE, including Arts and Humanities, will be next to be consulted.
All members are encouraged to attend the General Meeting.
Motions for debate on this topic should be sent to ucu@ucl.ac.uk with a deadline of 5pm on Wednesday.
UCL UCU Executive Committee
https://ucl-ucu.org.uk
Appendix: Excerpt from Council statement to AB
Following a detailed discussion of the concerns raised by Academic Board, and the EASE programme leadership’s response, Council determined that the programme should continue as planned. Acknowledging Academic Board’s feedback, Council emphasised its expectation that consultation and engagement should be given the highest priority through the implementation of EASE in the remaining faculties.
During the discussion, and in response to Academic Board’s concerns, the EASE leadership team committed to strengthening the planned review of the impact, including an additional review at 3 years in addition to those already planned at 6 and 12 months, to ensure that there is continued scrutiny of the impact of the programme on our academic endeavours, and the opportunity to address any areas not sufficiently resolved through consultation or informal dialogue. Commitments were also made to extending the post-implementation support for faculties and departments (to include follow-up surveys and additional opportunities for discussion of issues) and to increasing pay protection to 2 years for any at-risk staff who accept a role that is at a grade lower than their current position. Council’s decision was taken on the basis that the review and the additional protections would be implemented.
