University staff braced for earthquake as financial troubleshooter drafted in

Unions predict up to 10% of staff could go after Edinburgh University appoints man who transformed Police Scotland

Former Police Scotland chief financial officer James Gray

Staff are braced for large scale compulsory redundancies at the University of Edinburgh after senior management signalled there would be ‘no compromise’ over planned budget cuts.

As part of a £140 million savings drive the university is implementing “radical university-wide actions” to reduce staff and operating costs.

Principal Prof Sir Peter Mathieson raised the prospect of forced redundancies when he warned in February that “nothing is off the table”. This week he doubled down in the face of union protests, including strike action last month, saying: “Taking decisive action now is the responsible approach to prevent far greater challenges in the future.”

The University and Colleges Union (UCU), which represents over 120,000 university workers across the UK, says it fears “alarming” levels of job losses are around the corner.

The university is taking a hardline approach to hitting its saving targets after appointing a new chief financial officer, James Gray, who has been credited with a “seismic” transformation of the balance sheets at Police Scotland.

‘Worst still to come’

Based on the £90 million of outstanding saving the university is targeting, the UCU calculates that as many as 2000 jobs may be cut - a further 1,650 jobs beyond those already lost due to voluntary redundancy. Around 350 staff opted to take VR in April which reduced the salaries budget by around £18m.

Another round of voluntary redundancies open to senior staff until October 31, could save a further £10m. Cancelling promotions and contribution rewards paid for achievements in academic research are expected to cut another £6m, and reducing guaranteed-hours and fixed-term work several million more.

The Joint Finance Working Group (JUFWG), a group of academics and professional staff at the University of Edinburgh, which includes members of UCU and UNISON, say that still leaves a £90m shortfall, which means the bulk of the cuts are still to come.

It has published projections estimating that between 1,000 and 2,000 posts are at risk across the university.

The UCU describes the scale of potential jobs cuts as “the largest ever seen in the history of Scottish higher education” and are calling for the “untenable” targets to be rolled back. More strike action is widely expected following last month’s walk-outs.

The man to deliver “seismic” change?

James Gray has been drafted in to lead the restructure at Scotland’s biggest university with more than 18,000 staff and just under 50,000 students.

The former Police Scotland chief financial officer succeeded ‘turnaround specialist’ Nirmal Borkhataria, who served less than a year after being recruited as interim Finance Director, in November 2024.