52+ Potential Redundancies at LSE

A major redundancy consultation is taking place at the London School of Economics & Political Science. These potential redundancies cut across campus and across many staff categories, and were recently reported in the Times Higher Education. Here is what we know so far.

Early Concerns and procedural anomalies

In March 2026, the unions began to raise urgent concerns. A large number of redundancies began to appear in casework for LSE UCU members who need our employment support. So, the union raised queries about whether the School might go over the threshold of 20 redundancies in a 90 day period. According to UK labour law (section 188, or S188), this is the threshold beyond which collective consultation is legally required.

The LSE did not initially provide a clear response. However, the unions eventually learned—notably, in an individual’s casework meeting rather than through any official communication—that an S188 consultation was indeed being planned.

This led the unions to request an emergency meeting with School managers, as an opportunity for transparency and accountability. In response, the School issued an S188 letter announcing a large number of redundancies.

Announcement of redundancies

On 21 April 2026, the joint unions received a section 188 (S188) letter announcing that the LSE is entering into a collective consultation on proposed redundancies. It was stated to last for the statutory minimum 30-day period. The letter states that 52 jobs are potentially at risk across both academic and professional services staff.

These included proposed redundancies across six units, as well as across both academic and professional service staff categories.

During a collective consultation period, the School is required to engage in “meaningful consultation” with the unions with a view to reaching an agreement. This is also required in the procedure specified by the Academic Annex, which sets out academic redundancy procedures.

Gaps in Transparency

The S188 letter from LSE to the unions acknowledges gaps in the School’s own knowledge of the numbers and categories of staff who are potentially at risk. It assures the unions that this information will be provided when it is “reasonably practicable” to share.

In the meantime, despite already beginning the short official consultation, these gaps make meaningful consultation extremely difficult:

Which roles? Many of the roles identified as at risk for redundancy in the School’s S188 letter quite literally say ‘TBC’. This making consultation about them effectively impossible.
Which redundancy procedures? The School’s letter to the unions does not make clear which of multiple redundancy procedures will be followed for which staff. It also does not say whether they will be aligned with ongoing parallel negotiations about the Academic Annex. 30 April Update. They have now told the UCU that they will follow it for some covered staff who are affected but not for others, in breach of employment contracts.
Role and timing of Council votes? The letter did not specify whether LSE Council has or will vote on all academic staff posts, as is required by the Academic Annex, and if so for how many members of staff. 30 April update. UCU has now learned that Council will vote on 5 May on 16 redundancies, just two weeks after the consultation period began and without any business case given to the unions.
Holistic view of funding constraints? The exact funding constraints were not made clear in affected units. Neither the nature of known cuts nor known expected incoming grants that could offset cuts were included in the letter. The branch submitted detail proposals on avoiding research and policy staff redundancies in April 2025. But, the School has yet to begin discussions on these proposals in earnest.
Interaction with parallel restructurings? The LSE is already involved in a parallel restructuring process called the Operations Excellence Programme (OEP). The School claims the OEP and these restructurings are unrelated but that the current restructurings have been assessed to ensure compatibility. Yet no target operating models have been decided under the OEP. And, UCU was informed that as of 30 April, the OEP consultants have not had sight of the restructuring that is resulting in 13 proposed redundancies in central administrative services.

Rushed, Poorly-Informed Consultation

Despite these gaps, LSE Human Resources has informed UCU that it is not planning to extend the consultation beyond the statutory 30-day minimum. And, it will not recommend enhanced redundancy payments for affected academic staff.

These statements do not lend assurances that the School intends to meaningfully consult with the UCU, rather treating the outcome of the consultation as pre-determined.

LSE Public Announcement of Redundancies

Responding to LSE UCU communications, The School Management Committee sent an update to all staff on 28 April explaining their perspective on the redundancies. The UCU particularly welcomes their claim in this message that,

“the changes outlined above are not the start of any wider LSE redundancy initiative”.

The message also states that the cuts affect ‘more than 20 staff’ across ‘three units’ that were triggered by ‘unexpected cuts in government funding’. It also mentions a restructuring within DTS, the LSE IT division. But, it emphasises that these are specific, discrete developments that are still in early stages.

Clarifications of LSE Announcement

The School Management Committee’s update requires a few clarifications:

52 redundancies were indeed identified in the School’s S188 consultation letter, not just ‘more than 20 staff’. It is true that ’20 staff’ legally trigger an S188 consultation. But, it is not completely transparent to use the figure ‘more than 20 staff’ in communications to staff.
Six units are indeed affected not three, although three only have one affected staff member each.
Early stages is only true in the sense that the School lacks information. But, Human Resources have informed us that we have already entered the 30-day consultation period. In this sense, these redundancies are at a quite advanced stage.

The UCU remains deeply concerned about the employment strategy that led to such an unusually large number of redundancies in such a short period. They may not be about cost-cutting per se. But, reductions in government funding and short-sighted employment strategies do contribute to troubling trends seen across the sector.

The UCU also continues to call on the School to provide sufficient and transparent information to meaningfully consult with the unions. The School’s proposals to the unions have so far not been adequately specific and were missing key information.

Hope Going Forward

Consultation meetings have now begun. The UCU remains committed to engaging in meaningful consultation with the School Side, with a view to reaching an agreement. However, the first step for meaningful discourse is the open sharing of information.

At the LSE UCU branch, we are committed to protecting everyone’s job and challenging all redundancies. This is in line with long established UCU policy. Following a motion passed at last year’s AGM, we also call on the LSE to stop preventing academic staff from receiving enhanced redundancy payments alongside their PSS colleagues.

We know that this news will be distressing for many of you. Please know that we are here to support you. If you need someone to talk to, help is available through UCU’s arrangement with Education Support. LSE also provides additional support including access to the counselling service.

If you have been notified that your post is at risk of redundancy, we encourage you to get in touch with us as soon as possible and formally request casework support.

If you are a unionist who would like to help out, please reach out to the UCU Secretary about helping to support our casework.

For all other inquiries, please contact UCU.Secretary@lse.ac.uk.