Strike action information for students

Replacing lost learning

Will missed teaching be replaced?

The vast majority of teaching across the University has gone ahead as usual. However, some classes have been affected and students in a small number of schools have experienced disruption.

Your school will provide details of arrangements they are putting in place to replace cancelled classes and ensure that any content you have missed is covered in an appropriate and timely manner. Schools have been asked to make sure that this happens before the end of the current semester, 7 February 2026, or before the relevant assessment period. This may mean that you are offered classes outside of your normal timetable. However, these will only be scheduled to take place during normal timetable hours (Monday to Friday 9am to 6pm) and during the 15 weeks of the semester period set aside for teaching and assessment. 

As long as these sessions are in the main standard and non standard term dates, you are expected to attend. (Non-standard dates relate to courses students may be studying within the Faculty of Health, such as Dentistry and Medicine, and students studying for a PGCE/PDCE or the DEd in Education and Child Psychology). Attendance will be monitored in the standard way and may be taken into account if you later make an academic appeal in relation to your results for that module.

Why is the University replacing missed teaching?

The position of the University is that all lost learning must be replaced. It is important that you have the opportunity to receive the teaching, and achieve the learning outcomes you were promised when you accepted an offer to study your chosen programme.

This is also clarified by the Office for Students (OfS) in their six expectations of institutions during industrial action. These include that we “Prioritise the delivery of education when implementing contingency plans – in the first place, avoiding any impact on students; where this cannot be done, mitigating the impact on students through delivery of education with as few changes as possible; where this cannot be done, timely repeat performance of any missed or significantly disrupted teaching, assessment, or other promised aspects of students’ experience.”

My school has scheduled some classes in the assessment period (19 January - 6 February 2026) do I need to attend?

Where a significant amount of teaching has been missed, your school may schedule sessions to make up for lost learning and missed content (either in person or online) during the assessment period (19 January to 6 February 2026).  As long as these are in the main standard and non standard term dates, you are expected to attend. (Non-standard dates relate to courses students may be studying within the Faculty of Health, such as Dentistry and Medicine, and students studying for a PGCE/PDCE or the DEd in Education and Child Psychology). Attendance will be monitored in the standard way and may be taken into account if you later make an academic appeal in relation to your results for that module.

Schools may also offer additional sessions during this period to support your learning, for example drop-ins and revision classes. Where attendance is optional, this will be clearly indicated. Whilst there is no expectation to attend, we encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities.

My school has scheduled some classes over the winter vacation (22 December to 16 January 2026). Do I need to attend?

Your school should not schedule activities to take place during the winter break. If this is the case, you should contact your Head of School or your School Director of Education.

My school says teaching may be replaced next semester,  but that’s after my examinations. Is this okay?

If you have experienced a significant number of cancelled classes there may not be time to cover all the content you should have received before the end of this semester. If this is the case, your school may offer classes later in the academic year. It is important that you have the opportunity to make up this learning, particularly if content in future modules builds on it. 

You will not be assessed on topics before the relevant material has been covered. In some cases your school may need to postpone assessment of certain parts of the syllabus until after they have been covered. 

Your school is aware of the need to balance replacing lost learning with avoiding overloading you, especially if you are in one of the small number of schools where the impact of cancelled classes has been more significant. 

Examinations and assessments

Will I be examined on content I have missed due to strike action?

You will not be assessed on topics before the relevant material has been covered.  

Similarly, whilst schools will ensure that as much learning as possible is recovered before formal examinations, they will be mindful of the time and opportunities you have had to assimilate, learn and practice topics ahead of the examination period. This will also be taken into account when scheduling, preparing and reviewing examination papers.

For other types of assessments, for example course work, group work and presentation, schools are again being asked to ensure that you are not assessed on content that has not been covered and to review assessment deadlines.   

If you chose not to attend a class that went ahead during the strikes, this will have been classed as an unauthorised absence. You can therefore reasonably expect to be assessed on the material covered.

Will the strike action be taken into account when marking our assessment, or do I need to submit an Extentenuating Circumstances (EC) form?

Your assessments will be marked as normal, but the relevant examination board, ie. the staff in your school who review results alongside an external examiner, will be fully aware of any impacts of strike action on relevant modules and will make sure that you are not disadvantaged. You do not need to submit an EC unless you have reason to believe that the strike affected you disproportionately to your peers.

If I chose not to attend classes that did go ahead during strikes, in solidarity with striking staff, will I still be assessed on these topics?

Yes. If it was your choice not to attend a class that went ahead this constitutes an unauthorised absence and the onus is on you to recover any missed learning. Your decision not to attend class will not count as a valid extenuating circumstance in terms of any impact on your performance.

Late teaching means I won’t have time to revise for exams?

Your school will understand that cancelled classes may mean there is less time between being taught and the assessment period. They will consider the timing of hand in dates and also the dates for formal examinations to give you as much time as possible to prepare. They will also make sure that assessments are appropriate given any missed teaching. The fact that you may have had less time to prepare for examinations will be taken into account by the relevant examination board, ie. the staff in your school who review results alongside an external examiner, to make sure that the marking is fair.

Will the University make assessments easier to account for lost teaching?

No, the University will not lower standards expected from you as you progress through your programmes. This is important in terms of your learning and also in maintaining the standards that are applied to all degrees delivered by the University. 

We will take steps to ensure that you are not disadvantaged by cancelled classes. This includes rescheduling teaching, providing missed content through appropriate alternative means, offering support and revision classes, ensuring you are not assessed on topics that have not been covered, and taking into account the wider impact of industrial action on your learning and overall experience. 

Where can I find mental health and wellbeing support?

If you are feeling anxious, down, overwhelmed or struggling to adjust to these changing circumstances, our Student Wellbeing Service can offer tailored one-to-one support to help you make sense of what you’re experiencing.

If the strike action has significantly affected your mental health, you can also contact the Student Mental Health, Counselling and Therapies Service. 

The University also has a wide range of exam support available, from revision resources to wellbeing guidance and information on what to expect on exam day.

How do I access support for the exam period?

As assessments approach, the University has a wide range of exam support available, from revision resources to wellbeing guidance and information on what to expect on exam day.

Please also see our exam timetable information.

You can find lots of resources to help you plan your revision, revise effectively, and prepare for different exam types on the assessment and exam skills hub.

You can also join workshops to help you prepare for your exams, including sessions this week and next on revision planning, how to prepare for essay-based exams, using Generative AI for revision, developing an academic argument, an overview of academic writing, and how to write a literature review. Book onto a study skills workshop.

Complaints and compensation

Can I claim compensation for lost learning?

The University's first priority is to replace any learning you lose as a consequence of industrial action.  This is important because we have a contract with you to deliver the programme you registered for and to support your learning.

The Office for Students (OfS), who regulate higher education, are clear that that compensation is not “a substitute for the holistic experience of intellectual, professional and personal development that a student should expect from their higher education” and that we should deliver the education you reasonably expect, whilst noting the protections afforded you under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

You are entitled to seek compensation and can do so via the University’s formal complaints procedure, with compensation taking the form of “a financial refund, price reduction or repeat provision of service.” Compensation can be made in response to both individual and group complaints. It is normal for compensation to be paid in full and final settlement following a complaint, with students having the alternative not to accept the offer and to progress a complaint with the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) on receipt of a Completion of Procedures letter.

Please see the University’s Compensation and Refunds Policy.

Compensation for lost learning will not normally be considered until it is clear what learning you have lost, what arrangements your school has put in place to replace this and how effective these mitigations have been.  In relation to the recent strike action, we would therefore advise that you submit complaints after the end of semester one, so that your case can be fully evidenced and the full extent of the impacts on you understood. 

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) provides some helpful advice for students wanting to complain. This is relevant to all students across the UK.

I am not happy with the approach my school has taken to replace lost learning. Can I complain?

If you feel that these replacements have not fully mitigated the impacts of the industrial action on you personally, you can make a complaint via the University's formal complaints process, under which you are entitled to seek redress, including compensation.

Can I be reimbursed for out of pocket expenses due to lost teaching?

Any rescheduling of teaching or assessment will happen during the normal teaching and assessment week, normally the 15 weeks of teaching and assessment in each semester. These are the weeks you would normally be expected to be on campus.

However, if you have incurred travel or childcare costs to attend a lecture or meeting on campus and on arrival found that it had been cancelled with no notice because of industrial action, you can apply to be reimbursed. To be eligible, you’ll need to have had no other reason to attend campus, for example other classes that were not cancelled, and will need to provide evidence to confirm your costs, for example, travel tickets.

Please complete the reimbursement form to make a claim.

How the University is working to end the dispute

Prior to the industrial action beginning and during the first week, we were in regular discussions with UCU to try to find a resolution to their dispute. The University made four offers with a view to ending industrial action called by UCU starting on 17 November 2025. Three offers were made before UCU commenced strike action and one offer after the first three days of action had taken place. Unfortunately, UCU members did not accept these offers.

The four offers we made to UCU are as follows:

• Offer 1: 9 October 2025, including a commitment to no compulsory redundancies until April 2026
• Offer 2: 12 November 2025, including a commitment to no compulsory redundancies until July 2026
• Offer 3: 12 November 2025 (following negotiation of offer 2), including a commitment to no compulsory redundancies until October 2026
• Offer 4: 20 November 2025, including a commitment to no compulsory redundancies until October 2026 and no restructures before April 2026 

Whilst we were not able to come to an agreement with UCU, we remain committed to working with them to build a sustainable future for the University. We also remain focused on achieving any staffing savings we need through voluntary means. No compulsory redundancies have been made to date.

At a recent Q&A session students asked questions about the strike action and how it is affecting them.  The questions and responses are summarised on our web pages and help to provide some useful context.