Following the announcement of the reduction of the Voluntary Redundancies from 187 to 154 Full Time Equivalent (FTE), Dundee University and College Union (DUCU) have argued that this doesn’t properly represent the actual number of staff leaving their roles.

This week DUCU published an open letter to the First Minister, John Swinney. The open letter claims that “these proposed cuts do not appear to be required to meet the staffing reduction set out in the university’s own Strategy to Recovery.”

The statement goes on to claim that when the Strategy to Recovery was first prepared in May of this year, it was based on approximately 2,500 FTE University Staff and the proposed cuts would aim to reduce this to 2,313 FTE.

DUCU says that staffing has now fallen to approximately 2,355 as of August 2026.

As DUCU state: “Yet management is now seeking a further reduction of 154 FTE staff. On those figures, the University’s staff numbers would fall to around 2,200 FTE – more than 100 FTE below the staffing level on which the Strategy to Recovery was approved by Court.”

When The Jute Journal got in touch with DUCU they said that many staff have left in the last two months since the Strategy to Recovery was released and during the consultation period due to “intense pressure the University Executive has placed on them.”

DUCU went on to give an example of how the number of FTE has decreased over the consultation period.

“For example, in Disability Services, a member of staff left and therefore their role is no longer at risk, but it’s also not being replaced, so that planned cut to Disability Services is going ahead.”

The email to The Jute Journal claims that Disability Services has been cut by over 60% in the last year as a result of staff leaving and their positions not being replaced, as well as the cuts from Voluntary Redundancies scheme.

The Union also expressed their concern for student and staff wellbeing at the “hollowing out of essential support services like the Global Room, and the Chaplaincy.”

The Jute Journal understands that while the Global Room was announced to be “retained”, staff in the Global Room are not to be retained.

DUCU end by claiming that “This pattern (various degrees of reductions) is observed in almost all areas of the University, with the exception of the University Executive Group and Assistant Vice-Principals, which have grown significantly.”

A statement from a University spokesperson counters some DUCU claims:

“There was no target of 2313 posts within the Strategy to Recovery, as DUCU have claimed.

“The changes arising from the collective consultation are what is needed to place the University on a sustainable footing for the future.

“The reduction to 154 FTE (full-time equivalent) at-risk is indicative of the efforts made to avoid redundancies as far as possible. The change reflects constant review of the business cases throughout the collective consultation process, which has been meaningful and constructive with significant changes made to the original proposals. 

“The reduction in the numbers “at risk” was reached through one or a combination of three things:

  • some colleagues being matched into roles
  • changes to proposals following consultation with staff, unions and students
  • other colleagues leaving the university, either through resignation or retirement

“To the last minute of the consultation process we worked to exhaust every avenue other than redundancy.”