The University of Edinburgh is to make members of staff redundant in a move said to be prompted by the rise in employers’ national insurance contributions in the Autumn Budget.
The effect has been to raise the salary bill paid by the university by several millions. Sir Peter Mathieson, the Vice-Chancellor of the university who was awarded a five per cent pay rise on his total salary package of £418,000 in recent weeks wrote to staff: “Throughout this year, I have been frank about the severe financial challenges our university and the sector are facing,.
“The university costs £120m each month to run. In the context of the recent sector challenges around international student recruitment, increasing staff costs since the pandemic, and the unsustainable levels of funding for Scottish and other UK students, our outgoings are consistently higher than our income.
“In response to this situation and recent developments with regards to National Insurance, we have concluded that we need to take a series of actions, which will include selective voluntary and, if unavoidable, compulsory redundancies.
“We will be offering staff the opportunity to find out more through a variety of online and in-person meetings, and we will continue to work with our unions and managers to help colleagues through these changes.
“I don’t underestimate how unsettling this news will be, however, it is important that I am honest about the scale of the challenge we have and transparent about the actions we need to take to address it.”
Rachel Reeves the Chancellor of the Exchequer increased the National Insurance contribution for employers by 1.2 per cent to 15 per cent from April 2025. Staff costs are said to account for more than half of the university’s spend.
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