It has been revealed that the first 1,000 students have joined the class action to claim compensation from universities for teaching time lost during the recent UCU strikes, with the University of Nottingham (UoN) ranking fifth for the number of students signed up.
Asserson, the law firm behind the class action lawsuit, report that it has already reached a sufficient number of sign-ups to apply for a Group Litigation Order. However, they are awaiting several thousand more students to join the group action in order to attain adequate funding.
With 58 students signed up so far, UoN has the fifth largest number of sign ups. The University of Kent and University of Manchester are currently leading, with respectively 127 and 88 students having joined the class action.
“If the class action is accepted, universities would pay out millions of pounds.
Shimon Goldwater, a senior solicitor at Asserson, said: “No other service provider would get away with charging for 25 weeks of a service and cutting that to 22 with no price reduction. There is no question that universities owe students fair compensation.”
He continued: “If the class action is accepted, universities would pay out millions of pounds. Over 20,000 undergraduates attend each large UK university. Paying approximately £500 compensation each to 20,000 students would cost £10 million.”
“With the UCU estimating in March that strike action affected a million students, with the loss of 575,000 teaching hours that will not be rescheduled, we’re expecting a surge of sign ups over the coming weeks. This is already one of the largest student group legal actions ever to have been launched in the UK,” shared Shimon Goldwater.
“This is already one of the largest student group legal actions ever to have been launched in the UK”
All students are invited to sign up at: https://www.universitycompensation.co.uk. By signing up students are instructing Asserson to act of their behalf and are relieved of the burden of daily involvement in the dispute. However, they will be consulted as a group in each university on any decisions regarding the settlement.
Goda Naujokaityte
Image courtesy of ‘Asserson’.
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