Following the recent proposals for redundancies at the University, we have made the following documentation accessible for colleagues.
This is in the interest of transparency and to ensure that you are informed throughout the consultation process.
Staff will be updated on an ongoing basis as more information becomes available but in the meantime please send any questions to your Faculty Executive Dean or Professional Services Director.
Voluntary Redundancy Scheme Details
Redundancy links
Potential Redundancies - Overview of timeline
Potential Redundancies - Proposal for Faculty of Creative Arts and Humanities
Potential Redundancies - Proposal for Faculty of Education and Social Sciences
Potential Redundancies - Proposal for Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences
Any staff that would like support can contact People Services or access wellbeing services through our employee assistance programme.
Overview
What is redundancy?
Redundancy arises when an employer needs to reduce its workforce. An employee is dismissed for redundancy if:
- The employer has ceased, or intends to cease, continuing the business in which the employee was employed, or at the location where they worked, or
- The requirements of the business for employees to perform work of a specific type, or to conduct it at the location where they are employed, has ceased or diminished, or is expected to do so
Why is redundancy happening?
The university is proposing to potentially reduce the number of academic staff within some Faculties/Schools. This has been prompted by a combination of factors including significant change within the HE section, financial pressures including significant deficits, a decline in student demand, evolving institutional priorities, and a need to ensure our structure aligns more effectively with Liverpool Hope’s long-term objectives, so we are financially and organisationally sustainable. Further
information is on the site.
For more information on the challenges facing the HE sector at the moment, you can review these external resources:
What is consultation?
Consultation is a formal process where meaningful discussion takes place between the university and affected staff members. Consultation is aimed at explaining the reasons for the proposed redundancies, discussing the process, including the timeline, selection criteria, and alternatives, considering feedback from employees and their representative, exploring ways to avoid or minimise redundancies, such as
redeployment, reduced hours, or voluntary redundancy and ensuring transparency and fairness throughout the process.
Consultation feedback, proposal or ideas can be submitted by individuals, groups or union representatives. All submissions will be carefully considered and responded to in line with agreed timescales.
Will there be a voluntary redundancy scheme?
The University has presented a Voluntary Redundancy (VR) scheme for at risk staff. This gives eligible staff the opportunity to express an interest in leaving the organisation voluntarily. This is open until July 3 2025. Visit the Voluntary Redundancy webpage for further information.
How will I find out about proposed new faculty structures?
Briefing sessions have been given by your Executive Dean. Proposal documents have been shared with academic staff. If you have any queries in relation to these please contact your respective Dean.
What is the financial situation at Liverpool Hope?
Liverpool Hope is facing an anticipated operational deficit of £2.875 million for 2024/25, with the financial statement’s deficit of £2.25M (subject to FRS 102 pension adjustments). This follows an operational deficit in excess of £1.2 million in 2023/24. We have an anticipated operating deficit in 2025/26 of £5.068M before FRS102 pension adjustment, subject to Council approval. The deficit for 2024/25 would have been significantly higher without initiatives that have been undertaken, including increasing PGT numbers, reducing non-staff budgets, improving retention of on course students and securing funding to develop the apprenticeship scheme amongst others.
During this period, costs have continued to rise, including pay (national insurance, pension contributions and inflation), utilities and the increased cost of operational activities (e.g. supplies) nationally, which have been impacted by Brexit and other external factors. We are also impacted by employer contributions to one of our pension schemes.
While there is work underway to generate additional income going forwards, we anticipate the majority of income generating initiatives we are progressing currently will not have significant financial impact until the academic year 2026/27.
Further information on our financial position is available in the University’s financial statements.
Where do we get our income from?
Most of our income is generated from tuition fees and short course fees, supported by funding council grants, research grants and contracts, investment income and other operational income.
A statement of comprehensive income for the year ending July 2024 is available in our most recent financial statement and an extract is shown below.

What is the university doing to support financial stability going forward?
We are making concerted efforts to return the institution to a surplus position and during the last 12 months have sought to grow new academic areas, for example in Physiotherapy, degree apprenticeships and new PGT programmes.
Project 2028 was instigated to identify alternative income sources and potential areas for operational savings. This activity led to significant savings in the financial year 2024/25.
The focus is now primarily on income generation and in support of this agenda a Commercial Board took effect from June 2025 with a focus on generating income from institutional assets and monitoring performance against income KPIs. This includes areas like increasing residential occupancy rate, particularly out of term time. The Director of Estates has also had significant success with securing SALIX grant funding, utilised to enable decarbonisation of buildings which would otherwise have to be funded by the institution and will reduce utilities costs. Over £1M has been secured for draw down in 2025/26 or early 2026/27 across three separate projects.
What academic areas are affected?
At the moment we are discussing potential redundancies. The University and the UCU are exploring all options. Not all subject areas are affected. Those areas facing potential redundancies are outlined below. These proposals may change during the consultation process. The University is working hard to mitigate redundancies and reduce these as much as possible.
The Faculty of Education and Social Sciences - 23
Education - 11
Social Science – 12
The Faculty of Creative Arts and Humanities - 11
Arts and Humanities - 6
Performing Arts – 5
The Faculty of Health and Digital Sciences – 5
Health Sciences – 3
Sports Science - 1
Geography and Environmental Science – 1
No professional services staff are at risk.
Support
Has an equality impact assessment been completed?
An Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) has been conducted on the overall process and individual EIA will be undertaken with the assistance of professional expertise in each of the affected work areas. Outcomes will be continuously monitored and reviewed to ensure compliance with equality obligations and to mitigate any disproportionate impacts.
What if I am maternity leave or absent due to sickness - how will this affect me during the redundancy process?
All affected employees are included in the redundancy process regardless of whether they are currently at work or on an extended period of leave, such as maternity leave or sickness absence. Being on leave does not exclude you from consultation or consideration.
We are committed to ensuring fair and non-discriminatory treatment. If you are on maternity leave, shared parental leave, or long-term sick leave, we will take steps to ensure you are fully informed and given the opportunity to engage in the consultation process. This may include arranging meetings at suitable times, using alternative methods of communication (e.g. phone or video calls), and ensuring you receive all relevant documentation.
Contacts and resources
If you wish to access support, you can contact the Staff Counselling Leaflet, which is a completely confidential, impartial and external resource available to staff via self-referral.
This webpage will be updated as and when the process evolves.
If you have any further queries please contact People Services.