A 'Happy' New Year to all members of staff from Vice Chancellor Brian Roper:

"8th January 2009

Letter to All Staff

Dear Colleagues,

Further to my letters of 30th June 2008 and 1st October 2008, in which I
outlined the potential impact of HEFCE's audit of our student data
returns, I now write to advise you of the current position in respect of
the University's most recent discussions with HEFCE.

Just prior to the Christmas closure period, HEFCE notified me that it
was minded to recover in full the overpayment of recurrent funding it
gave the University between 2005 and 2008. The exact amount will not be
known until February 2009, but HEFCE have indicated that it is likely to
be a very substantial amount and will be a one-off cost. The timescale
for recovering this has yet to be determined, but HEFCE have indicated
that they would wish to recover the full amount in stages over a phased
period of time in order to make this manageable for the University.
HEFCE has given the University additional time to provide any further
information that might mitigate the level of holdback. This amount is
in addition to the annually recurring £15m loss in grant that the
University faces from 2008/9 onwards.

HEFCE has however indicated that it is prepared to consider making a
financial investment in the University through the Funding Council's
Strategic Development Fund process. Its officers have stipulated that
the HEFCE Board will need to be satisfied that the University can
permanently reduce its operating costs in order to stabilise its
position before growth. The University has already provided HEFCE with
the University's new Strategic Plan, which was approved by the
University's Board of Governors on November 19th 2008. In the
circumstances, some aspects of the new Strategic Plan may take longer to
be realised or in some instances may not be pursued.

In order to assist the University in identifying viable ways of
permanently reducing overheads, we are setting up a Programme Office to
identify and lead on projects that will deliver substantial and lasting
savings. In due course, there may be opportunities for internal
secondments to work in this office for fixed periods of time.

It is clear that a significant reduction in the number of staff employed
is going to be necessary and an early meeting with the University's
recognised trades unions is planned to discuss this. These discussions
will include the introduction of a fourth voluntary redundancy scheme on
the same terms as the previous schemes. These schemes have had generous
redundancy payments but, due to the high cost, I must advise you that
the unions will be consulted on suspending the current terms at the end
of this fourth voluntary round. It is likely that the University will
only be able to afford paying statutory terms for all compulsory
redundancies that arise thereafter. These will be significantly less
than the current University terms.

I have alerted you to the possible need for large-scale compulsory
redundancies in my earlier correspondence and I very much regret that
this is now no longer a possibility but a very real requirement. Senior
colleagues and I will now be looking at ways to operate the University
on a reduced staff base and we undertake to consult with unions and
staff. We will also be examining ways of reducing non-staffing overheads.

I recognise that this will be a very difficult year for all staff but I
hope that you will continue to maintain the high work standards which
have contributed greatly to our students' successes."

Yours faithfully,

Brian Roper
Vice Chancellor & Chief Executive