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Replacement Ballot Request Form

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The law still requires that ballots for industrial action be conducted by postal vote and local branch members should already have received ballot packs from Civica Election Services at their nominated postal address.

If you have received your ballot pack please vote and return your ballot as soon as possible using the included pre-paid envelope. When you have voted please let the branch office or UCU know via email or the ThruText SMS reminder.

If you have not received your ballot pack please request a replacement via the form at https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/Heriot-Watt-University-UCU-replacement-ballot-request-form-January-February-2026 by Monday 9 February 2026.

The ballot closes on Monday 16 February 2026 so please make sure that you have your papers in the post by Thursday 12 February 2026 at the very latest.

You will need your membership number to vote. If you need a reminder of your membership number send a blank email to mynumber@mercury.ucu.org.uk.

We will be holding an online members’ meeting via Zoom at 12.00 on Tuesday 17 February 2026 to decide our next actions based on the outcome of the ballot. Zoom details have been circulated by email. If you require BSL interpreting please contact the branch as soon as possible.

Local ballot on Industrial Action over Rightsizing and Scholar

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The senior leadership at Heriot-Watt are using the portfolio review to push through ‘Rightsizing’ changes which threaten jobs and affect working conditions.

Up to 41 FTE roles are currently at risk in Scotland, with the final headcount likely to be higher, and we have significant concerns about the potential for reductions in research time as result of the review.

Staff in Scholar, an important education resource not just for secondary education but also for foundation courses at Heriot-Watt, are also at risk even though the results of a Scottish Government review into online education are yet to be published.

The ballot is about protecting jobs, workloads, and research capacity in response to these proposals. A strong ballot result will strengthen the position of branch negotiators and increase our leverage in pushing the University to rule out compulsory redundancies.

Timeline

The ballot will open on Monday 5 January 2026 and close on Monday 16 February 2026. The last save date for posting is therefore Thursday 12 February 2026.

Replacement ballot papers can be requested online from Monday 12 January 2026. Details will be posted in due course.

Ballot papers

Employment law mandates that a ballot for industrial action must be conducted by post. Ballots cannot be conducted online and ballot papers cannot be sent out electronically for members to print out at home or at work.

The law also states that a ballot for industrial action must be supervised by a qualified independent scrutineer, usually Civica Election Services (CES). CES is responsible for the production, posting, and processing of ballot papers. UCU cannot by law produce, post, or process ballot papers.

You will receive a ballot pack / envelope at your registered address.

The ballot pack/envelope should have the return address for Civica (Civica Election Services, CES) in the top left-hand corner. It will also carry the CES logo and UCU branding.

The ballot pack will contain the ballot paper. The ballot pack will usually contain a second-class pre-paid return envelope. Members should use the ballot paper and put the ballot paper in the pre-paid return envelope, and then post that at the nearest post box or post office.

If you have misplaced the pre-paid envelope or the pre-paid envelope is missing from your ballot pack, you can put the ballot paper(s) into a blank envelope, write this address on the envelope – Civica Election Services, 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW – then affix a stamp, ideally first-class, and post it back. It is also possible to hand the ballot back in person at the above address.

What questions will appear on the ballot paper?

Your ballot paper will have two questions:

  • Are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of strike action?
  • Are you prepared to take industrial action consisting of action short of strike action (which for this purpose is defined to include overtime and call-out bans)?

We urge everyone to vote YES to both questions.

How should I mark my preference?

Your ballot includes two simple ‘Yes/No’ questions, mentioned above. You should write a CROSS (X) to indicate your preference on the ballot paper – for the avoidance of doubt, a CROSS (X) in a box looks like this. Using anything that is not a CROSS (X) — for example a TICK (V) — means that Civica Election Services’ scanning team will need to look at your ballot paper and make a judgment as to whether the vote is acceptable.

Why am I being asked if I have voted after?

Industrial action ballots are confidential and UCU does not know if an individual member has voted or which way that a member has voted. As part of our branches ‘get the vote out’ (GTVO) activities, we may ask you – via email, text message or door-knocking at your workplace – whether you have voted, so that we can target our GTVO with precision.

It is always an enormous help to us if you volunteer this information (on whether you have voted, not how you have voted). This means there will be no need for us to remind you again (for instance via text or phone-banking).

I have not received my ballot pack. What should I do?

If you do not receive your ballot pack by Monday 12 January 2026, you will be able to request a new ballot paper at https://yoursay.ucu.org.uk/s3/Heriot-Watt-University-UCU-replacement-ballot-request-form-January-February-2026

To request a replacement ballot request you need to use your unique UCU membership number which you can find by sending a blank email to mynumber@mercury.ucu.org.uk or email UCU’s membership department at membership@ucu.org.uk.

What happens after the ballot?

When the ballot closes and the results are announced, we will meet as a branch and discuss and vote on the next steps to take. You can get involved with this debate by attending the branch meeting, speaking to your colleagues or even proposing a motion about what next steps you think could be successful in increasing our leverage.

Support for Scholar – Scotland’s National Digital Learning Service

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UCU, Unite and UNISON are jointly coordinating an effort to gather notes of endorsement for Scholar, a national digital learning service, used by senior phase learners across Scotland, for over a generation.

Scholar is seeking to secure its long-term future beyond July 2026 and we are inviting support from anyone who recognises Scholar’s value to Scottish education.

You can show your support for Scholar by completing the form at https://sites.google.com/view/scholar-for-scotland/support-scholar

What is Scholar?

Scholar is a not-for-profit online learning platform, supporting schools and colleges across Scotland for 25 years through delivery of over 40 fully SQA curriculum-aligned interactive courses at SCQF Levels 5, 6 and 7 (National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher).

Funded by subscriptions through Scottish Local Authorities, SCIS schools and Further Education Colleges, Scholar works to promote equity of access to digital learning and wider subject choice in the areas of Maths and Sciences, English and Languages, Humanities and Social Sciences.
The impact of Scholar

Scholar is used every day in classrooms and homes across Scotland to support learning, teaching and independent study. With over 9,000 rich interactive activities and formative assessments, teachers use it to introduce topics, reinforce lessons and track progress. The reporting system helps teachers identify where support may be needed and learners are given a clear picture of their own progress.

Scholar engages with teachers, schools and local authorities to ensure important content and platform suggestions are heard and addressed. The team ensures that materials are refreshed annually with any SQA curriculum changes. Scholar is not just a resource but an active learning service that strengthens teaching and empowers learners.

Scholar plays a vital role for those who rely on flexible access to education such as interrupted learners, young carers, learners experiencing anxiety or illness, and those with additional support needs. The structured, accessible format allows learners to engage with the curriculum at a pace and time that works best for them. Peripatetic EAL teachers (English as an Additional Language) make use of Scholar, as one of the few comprehensive, curriculum-aligned ESOL pathways available nationally.

As a credible service, Scholar also collaborates with charities, subject experts, national organisations and contributed significantly to the ‘supported’ resources of Education Scotland’s National e-Learning Offer.

Beyond schools, Scholar is used in colleges to bridge knowledge gaps and complement course delivery. At a university level, Scholar supports Heriot-Watt University’s Maths Gym and Global College with digital resources, to strengthen foundations and ease the transition into Higher Education. Overall, Scholar helps to contribute to Scotland’s widening participation goals, supporting learners, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to move confidently from school into HE and FE.

With over 130,000 learners and 14,000 teachers with access annually (2024-25 cohort), Scholar has reached over a generation of learners across Scotland since its inception in 1999.

How to show your support

We are gathering notes of endorsement from learners, students, teachers, lecturers, parents, Scholar alumni, employers, national organisations and anyone who recognises Scholar’s value to Scottish education. Whether you used Scholar at school, make use of it in your teaching, benefitted from it in college or university or simply share the values it represents, we would welcome your comments.

Your endorsement will help demonstrate the breadth and depth of support for Scholar and provide vital evidence that it is a valued national service, deserving of a secure long-term future alongside the evolving educational landscape in Scotland.

Please show your support for Scholar.

Thank you

Members’ Meeting: Rightsizing and Scholar

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Over the last 2 weeks there have been meetings with departments and schools where the university has shared its proposals for ‘Rightsizing’. The branch committee have been supporting members at these meetings when sufficient advance notice of the discussions has been given.

The university has also continued to move forward with proposed changes to Scholar and colleagues in that team have been advised of a voluntary severance scheme with a very short window of opportunity which will close before the outcome of ongoing discussions with the various stakeholders are known.

These meetings have caused considerable distress among our members and colleagues. Please contact the branch if you would like to raise any concerns with us. Members can also access counselling via UCU at https://www.ucu.org.uk/educationsupport .

Voluntary severance scheme

Members in some of these areas may be considering the university’s voluntary severance scheme. If you are in that position, we advise that you make use of the financial advice service provided by https://www.ucu.org.uk/quilterfinancialadvice as part of your UCU membership benefits. If you have questions relating to the impact on pensions, these can also be directed to the branch at ucu@hw.ac.uk .

Move to dispute

At our last members’ meeting there was overwhelming support to move to dispute if the employer was not willing to rule out compulsory redundancies or significant changes to research time.

Unfortunately, we have not been able to secure these commitments during consultations and, as a consequence, have issued a ‘Failure to Agree’ letter to the Principal, requesting that such commitments be provided by the end of next week.

Members’ meeting

We are holding a follow-up member’s meeting at 2.30pm on Wednesday 3 December. At this meeting we will discuss the situation and what our options are. Please attend if you can so that we can have a strong turnout for decision making.

The meeting will be via Zoom and members should have received an email with the link. Please let the branch know if you need BSL interpreting. 

Join UCU today

We have many new members – welcome!

Please do encourage your colleagues to join the union at https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

 

Scottish Universities Community Bank

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As a dedicated trade union member, you understand the importance of collective support – just as we do at Scottish Universities Community Bank. We are a not-for-profit financial cooperative designed exclusively for university and college staff, offering fair and affordable loans alongside savings options that help you build financial security. We have worked with Heriot-Watt for over 30 years supporting employees financially. Whether you’re planning for the future, managing unexpected expenses, or simply looking for a safe place to grow your savings, we provide a trusted alternative to high-street banks.

More information can be found at https://www.universitycu.org.uk/about-us/

Join our credit union

By joining our credit union, you become part of a community that prioritises your financial wellbeing. Our ethical approach ensures that your savings help fund responsible lending to fellow university staff, reinforcing the same values of solidarity and mutual support that trade unions champion. Plus, with repayments deducted directly from your salary, managing your money has never been easier. Take control of your finances with a financial partner that works for you – because when we support each other, we all thrive.

Join at https://members.universitycu.org.uk/form/membership-form

 

Ordinary Members’ Meeting 19 Feb 2025

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The next Ordinary Member’s Meeting will be held online via Zoom between 1.00 and 2.00pm on 19 February 2025.

This is one of the regular open meetings we have in between our AGMs each year. Members can bring motions for discussion at the meeting and/or agenda items draw attention to any issues which the committee or other members may not be aware of. We are hoping that we might have some more information about the ‘cost savings’ being planned by the University.

Motions can be to define branch policy on an issue or suggestions for motions to go forward to the UCU national congress in May. Motions should be up to 150 words and the deadline is Tuesday 11 February to allow for circulation and amendments.

At the meeting we will also be electing our delegates to the national conference. The conference will be held in Liverpool between Saturday 24 and Monday 26 May 2025. Members can self-nominate to stand as a delegate. In the event of having more than 2 nominations we will ask for candidate statements and hold a vote.

If you have an agenda item, or a motion, or wish to put yourself forward as a delegate please contact Juergen Munz, the Branch Secretary.

The full agenda, meeting link, and motions will follow by email. We hope to see as many of you at the meeting as possible. If you would find BSL interpretation helpful please contact Marion Fletcher in advance to arrange this.

If you have questions please feel free to get in touch. If you require casework or personal representation further information can be found at https://heriotwatt.web.ucu.org.uk/casework/

Guest speaker

We have invited Melissa D’Ascenezio, the Co-Branch President of Dundee University UCU, to speak about their fight to protect jobs and gain access to information to help ensure that employees don’t pay the price for management failure in what will be a sector defining struggle.

We must all stand in solidarity, and unions must be part of the conversation about Higher Education.

 

Redundancies and reshaping the School of Social Sciences at Heriot-Watt University

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Academic staff in the School of Social Sciences (SoSS) will have received an email about proposed changes in the School of Social Sciences.

In this post we will summarise these proposals and share our concerns about what we anticipate to be a difficult and unsettling time.

What is happening?

On Monday 5 August 2024 all academic staff in SoSS received an email from the Executive Dean (ED) which outlined the University’s plan for ‘reshaping’ the school. The plan includes a voluntary redundancy (VR) scheme together with a range of alternative options ranging from temporary 2-year secondments to Dubai, where there are ongoing recruitment issues, to reducing working hours and unpaid career breaks. All designed to reduce local staff costs.

What are our concerns?

This is a major exercise and while cuts on this scale will be particularly damaging to a school which is still recovering from job losses in 2020 the effects are likely to be felt in other parts of the university too.

We have not been given answers as to why a key academic unit has been singled out again and whether the situation will escalate to compulsory redundancies if not resolved satisfactorily, and whether the current scheme will be escalated to other parts of the university.

Our local UCU representatives met with HR, the ED, and the Deputy ED of SoSS on 29 July for an ‘early consultation meeting’. The email which staff in SoSS subsequently received does not reflect the discussion held or the points of concern we raised. We are very disappointed that the University has pressed ahead with these plans without engaging in meaningful collective consultation, and despite the joint statement on the Scottish Fair Work Agenda which was signed by Heriot-Watt University and the three recognised unions: UCU, Unison, and Unite.

We have informed management their proposed plan is unwise and risks considerable harm to colleagues and the student experience. A critical concern is that the proposals have not been the subject of an Equality Impact Assessment. In 2020 it was women  close to retirement who bore the weight disproportionately. In addition the obvious equalities impacts of secondments to Dubai have not been considered.

Our position

We have made our position clear to the University.

  • We will support any eligible1 members who wish to know more about the voluntary redundancy (VR) scheme or any of the alternatives which have been suggested to ensure that they secure the best possible terms.
  • We will not tolerate any attempts to persuade, pressure, or coerce. No-one should consider taking VR or changing their contracted hours or campus location unless they want to and without being fully informed of all their options and reaching a conclusion of their own choosing.
  • The university should be meeting regularly with staff and the unions to consult meaningfully on the proposed changes.

1. The proposed VR scheme does not include Professional Services staff, G6, GTAs, or academic staff who are funded externally.

What happens next?

We will be writing to management to reiterate our concerns and to request further consultation meetings.

If you are invited to a meeting, or wish to arrange a meeting, with your line manager we strongly recommend that you be accompanied by a branch rep to ensure that policy and procedures are being followed correctly in relation to your individual circumstances. You have a statutory right to be accompanied by a union rep in any meeting at which redundancy is discussed. If a meeting not initially about redundancy turns to this subject you have the right to halt the meeting and ask for it to be reconvened with a rep present. For meetings about options other than redundancy there is no statutory right to be accompanied but it is recognised as ‘good practice’ to allow staff to be accompanied. Please contact the branch if need the support of a rep.

We will be organising an online SoSS members meeting shortly. Please check your inbox for details and try to attend if at all possible.

Meetings are usually for members but given the significance of the proposed changes non-members will be most welcome too. If you would like an invite please speak to a school rep, anyone who you know is a member, or contact the branch office at ucu@hw.ac.uk.

Update: The online SoSS members meeting will be on Friday 9 August at 1pm. Members have been sent an email with a Zoom link together with the Meeting ID and Passcode. Please attend only if you are in SoSS or a branch committee member.

Join UCU at https://www.ucu.org.uk/join

USS Pension Justice: We earned it.

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After 69 days total of industrial action following the needless pension cuts which were forced through by our employers two years ago members of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) will see their benefits restored as of Monday 1 April 2024.

The key points of the settlement are that

  • the USS accrual rate be restored from 1/85 back to 1/75
  • the defined benefit threshold will lift from £41k back to over £70k
  • the hard inflation cap of 2.5% has been removed
  • £900m has been set aside for a one-off payment to make good losses which members have already suffered

Ceasefire NOW!

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UCU joins with many others in Palestine, the UK, and beyond to reiterate the demands for an immediate ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, unrestricted access to humanitarian aid, and the lifting of the siege of Gaza.

We call on all UCU members to sign the parliamentary petition calling for a ceasefire and to end Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Academic freedom and free speech

UCU is aware that some of our members have been targeted for speaking out about the events in Israel and Palestine, and that this targeting has unfortunately often been racialised. UCU has clear policy in defence of academic freedom; if you have been targeted in this way please contact your local rep or regional office for support.