Brighton lecturers 'can't afford food' as pay halted

Brighton University staff say they are "at a point of crisis"

Staff at the University of Brighton say they cannot afford food, bills or mortgages after their pay was halted.

The university is withholding salaries to those lecturers taking part in a national marking and assessment boycott.

It said it aims to protect students from the "impact of industrial action".

Staff say the full pay cut is an "absolute scandal" as marking takes up less than 20% of their workload and they are continuing with other duties.

Julie Canavan, a lecturer in education, said she "felt sick" when she found out she had not been paid in June.

"Irrespective of having no money and a family to feed I actually was still working during this period, helping students when they're most stressed," she said.

"It's made me panic," said Julie Canavan of her pay being stopped

A principal lecturer at the university told the BBC he cannot afford to buy food and is relying on eating vegetables from his allotment.

The university is demonstrating "an aggressive attitude" and "real contempt for colleagues," he said.

Another staff member told the BBC she was struggling to pay her mortgage.

"I'm selling items I own and taking on extra work outside of the university", she said.

Brighton is one of a handful of universities that are deducting full pay in response to industrial action.

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The university said it does "not accept partial performance from our staff".

It said its position on salary deductions "has helped to limit the impact of the boycott on our students", with 80% graduating as normal this summer.

The marking boycott is part of a national dispute over pay and conditions directed by the University and College Union (UCU).

Mark Abel, chair of the UCU at Brighton, said staff are "furious" and "even though it is a terrible hardship to lose all your pay, they are determined to not cave in".

The University of Sussex is paying staff taking part in the industrial action 75% of their normal salary.

It is unclear what the impact of the industrial action is on students at Sussex and how many will be able to graduate as normal but the university said it is marking as many assessments as possible while maintaining the highest academic standards.

Students and staff protested against redundancies in June

Strikes are also taking place at the University of Brighton over the university's compulsory redundancies.

Last month, students and lecturers marched to protest the cuts and in May students occupied university offices.

"These changes are necessary to help the university make financial savings and are part of our wider strategy to respond to changing student demand for the courses they want to study," a University of Brighton spokesperson said.

"We have been able to achieve the majority of the change required through voluntary redundancy, and in a number of areas we have not needed to make any compulsory redundancies," they added.

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