Multi-Year Campaign by UCU Safety Representatives Leads to Formal Enforcement Action Over Work-Related Stress Management Failures

We want to share with you some significant news. On Thursday, 11 December, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued a formal notice of contravention to Vice-Chancellor Adam Tickell, confirming that the University is in material breach of Health and Safety law, specifically regarding work-related stress management.

The decision follows an inspection of the University’s arrangements for managing work-related stress in September, which involved a full review of the University’s documentation and comprehensive interviews with staff from across the organisation. 

The inspection was triggered by a formal complaint made by BUCU to the HSE in April 2024, outlining the University’s failure to manage stress effectively and requesting the HSE’s urgent intervention to protect staff from harm. For over three years, BUCU reps had been raising concerns about unsafe workloads and inadequate stress management. 

Instead of working with us, management has cancelled meetings, dismissed our concerns, and routinely refused to meaningfully engage with our BUCU Health and Safety Officer’s workplace inspection reports – dragging their feet on taking action to mitigate sometimes harrowing cases of chronic work-related stress. 

What the HSE Found

The HSE confirmed systematic failures in four key areas:

1. The University is not following its own Stress Management Policy. Risk assessments aren’t being completed at College or School level, and there is no assessment of how to reduce excessive workloads.
2. Risk Assessments are inadequate. The University concluded that stress isn’t a significant issue by analysing data in isolation and ignoring local-level incidents. Crucially, staff have not been involved in how to address failures in current management and performance.
3. Controls are not working: despite guidance on working hours, academics routinely work evenings and weekends. Workload allocation models are not used consistently, and many staff are themselves unaware of the procedures for covering work.
4. There is no effective monitoring: no system exists to report work-related stress, manager training is inconsistent, and the University lacks understanding of where high-risk areas exist. Management has failed to acknowledge that excessive workload and work-related stress are more than isolated issues at the University. 

The HSE inspector has stated plainly: the University “cannot demonstrate sufficient understanding of the risk to [its] staff from work-related stress.”

What This Means for Our Members

Our 2025 workload survey tells the human story behind these failures. Over 90% of you report having more work than time to complete it. Many academics are working 1,100-1,300 workload points—equivalent to 47+ weeks per year. Burnout is normalized. Staff wellbeing is dismissed. Management is often unsupportive or disconnected from staff needs.

As one member put it: “Unacceptably high workloads—impossible to complete without also working in the evening or at weekends… Management’s typical approach is to just load more and more work onto us.”

What Happens Next

The University must submit an action plan to the HSE by 28 January with all corrective measures completed by 30 September 2026. 

The University will need to consult with the campus unions and directly with staff working across the university. 

BUCU and BUnison will be looking to collectively consult on the action plan as required by the HSE as well as the organisational stress risk assessment to ensure they are fit for purpose. We want to see effective measures being put in place that tackle the root cause of stress for staff at the university so that work related stress can be avoided or significantly reduced. 

The remedies will of course take more time and more consideration and this is why the action plan needs to be robust and have the scope we need to truly address the underlying issues.

The HSE’s decision means that the University will have to repay the cost of the HSE inspection under the Fee for Intervention scheme.

How You Can Help

BUCU reps reiterate our intention to work constructively with the University to support the organisation in complying with health and safety law. The New Year will be an excellent time to get involved: 

• Become a safety rep in your department to look after your colleagues’ wellbeing
• Join the BUCU committee to hold the University to account!
• Contact us on admin@birminghamucu.org or casework@birminghamucu.org if you are experiencing work-related stress or excessive workload. 

You can read the full HSE letter here.