DOWNLOAD: UCU local provision claim form

A fund has been put in place to help those suffering particular financial impact caused by the industrial action taken in October 2017 due to the dispute over University of Leeds Statute VII. Payments are limited to the actual net loss due to action taken and no more. This will take into account any payment made by other means, such as the UCU National Fighting Fund (please see Fighting Fund for more details).

“Particular hardship” means that the member is low-paid (e.g. small fractional contract; or hourly-paid equivalent to only a small fraction) AND that the strike days disproportionately affect them (e.g. it’s the only day(s) they work; or it’s the day(s) they work most). Note that the usual position is that members should expect to lose a day’s pay for taking a day’s strike action.

We expect that you will have applied for the national ‘fighting fund’; the local hardship fund is intended to augment this fund in cases where there is particular hardship.

Claimants for hardship relief should compete this form and send to the UCU Administrator, UCU Office, Room 751, EC Stoner building by 12/1/18. A small group of the local officers will consider the claims and their decisions will be final. It is expected that the claimant may need to provide evidence of hardship.

As the fund is finite there may be a cap placed on payments this will not be known until the extent of application.

Please note that we ask members to apply for assistance in the following order, and that total contributions from both sources must not exceed the deductions that were made for your participation in the industrial action:

National UCU Fighting Fund – 2 layers:

– Provision for 13th October – available for all striking members to apply* – capped at £75/what you lost this day (whichever is the lowest, to ensure HMRC compliance)

– Provision for 11th and/or 12th October – available for hourly paid staff and those who would be disproportionately affected by strike deductions – capped at £50 per day / what you lost on these days (whichever is the lowest, to ensure HMRC compliance)

Local provision 

This is designed as a safety net to catch people who will be disproportionately affected by strike deductions but who are not eligible for one or more of the options under the National UCU Fighting Fund. Please download the form and return to ucu@leeds.ac.uk or UCU Administrator, UCU Office, Room 751, EC Stoner building by 12/1/18.