Following Strike Action

What to do after strike action, including how make a claim for financial support.

Notifying the University

Prior to strike action

It is your legal right to not to formally notify anyone in advance that you are intending to take strike action. If your manager asks you in advance or during action, you can and should reply that your union has advised you that you shouldn’t answer this.

After strike action

On the day after strike action, HR will provide a form for staff to notify if they took action.

It is important that you fill this out as soon as possible, as this shows how many staff took part which helps us in negotiations, and it also simultaneously fulfills your legal obligation to notify the employer that you took action.

ASOS notification

In certain rounds of IA in the past, management have also asked staff to complete a form regarding ASOS participation. If that occurs in this round of action, we recommend members not fill in the ASOS notification form.

If ASOS actions make it important for members to complete these forms, we will let members know, and also update this guidance.

Financial Support for Strike Action

Following the branch accepting the offer from management, management have agreed to not take any strike deductions from all members who participated in strike action on 30th April 2025 and 6-8th May 2025.

The following guidance is provided for general information.

Normally once you have notified the University that you took action, you will be deducted 1/365th of your gross annual pay from your payslip. This usually comes out of the payslip immediately following action, but can sometimes be the one after due to payroll processing dates.

Following strike action where deductions have been made, members who took action are ususally eligible to apply to the UCU national fighting fund and the local Industrial Action Solidarity Fund. We want all members to feel able to take part regardless of personal finances, and encourage you to apply to these funds if you need.

Please email us at ucu@sheffield.ac.uk if you have any questions.

UCU National Fighting Fund

The UCU National Fighting Fund is a national fund to support members who have taken action.

We will provide information about how to claim from this fund for any future action.

SUCU Industrial Action Solidarity Fund

The SUCU Industrial Action Solidarity Fund is made up of solidarity donations and branch funds.

Claims from lower paid members and those on insecure contracts will be prioritised, but we encourage any members who feel they need additional financial support in order to take strike action to apply.

The maximum amount that a trade union is legally permitted to a striking member in financial support is the member’s daily pay. This means that the local Solidarity Fund will not be able to give members more than the difference between what UCU’s fighting fund and your salary for the days covered by UCU.

We do ask members to please apply to the central UCU fighting fund for the maximum amount you are entitled to, if you are going to apply to the local fund, as UCU centrally has more resources than we do.

All information will be treated as strictly confidential. It will be seen only by the SUCU administrator and the SUCU Committee members responsible for agreeing payments.

Which fund should I apply to?

Where eligible, you should first claim from the UCU National Fighting Fund
If necessary following applications to the national fighting fund, you should apply to the Industrial Action Solidarity Fund
If you need an urgent response (for example, to cover bills or rent) you can apply to the Industrial Action Solidarity Fund first before receiving an outcome from the Fighting Fund, and make a subsequent repayment to the Industrial Action Solidarity Fund when payment from the national fighting fund is received

Donations

We want members to be financially supported so they are able to take part in industrial action without impediment, and a strong fighting fund is crucial to our action.

If you know any organisations or individuals who might be in a position to donate to either fund or both, please let them know this information or send them the link to this page.

We ask members who have a dispensation not to strike (due to e.g. long term illness or parental leave) to consider donating your earnings for some strike days to either the central UCU or local hardship fund, if you are in a position to do so.

Donate to the UCU National Fighting Fund

If you wish to donate to the Sheffield UCU Industrial Action Solidarity Fund, you can do so using these details:

Account name: UCU Sheffield 70 Hardship Fund
Sort code: 60-83-01
Account number: 20391171
Account Type: BusinessPlease get in touch with us at ucu@sheffield.ac.uk if you have any questions.