Senior management are currently consulting the campus unions and staff networks about changes to the university’s disability equality framework and trans equality policy. The UCU negotiating team has strenuously expressed the concerns raised by members about detrimental proposed changes to both of these policies. If you’d like to be involved in the UCU equality working group or disability working group, please contact equality officer Lorraine Youds.

Senior management are also consulting unions about potential changes to the university flexible working policy (current version here). We are being consulted at an early stage which is good, because it means we can all input fully rather than reacting to a finished draft. Contact ucu@leeds.ac.uk with any suggestions for what you think a new flexible working policy should include – our next consultation meeting about this is on Friday 19th February.

The university will be circulating another staff wellbeing survey soon. Issues identified from these surveys are discussed with the campus unions, and the branch committee would encourage you to fill in the next one, which will include questions about workload, and highlight any concerns you have. The surveys are confidential and reported in an aggregated form.