UCU Edinburgh Hardship & Fighting Fund

HOW TO MAKE A CLAIM

This guidance changes periodically and you should read it all, even if you have recently claimed.

Please attach all the evidence we require, or your claim will be delayed. UCU Edinburgh’s Treasurer, Dave Rush, only works for the branch on Fridays, and so it could be as long as a week before new evidence can be considered and your claim processed. 

The Branch does not have the capacity to notify members when claims have been accepted, so please do check your bank account before enquiring about your claim. See below for:

  • 17-19 November 2025 Strike Days

  • 8-12 September 2025 Strike Days

  • 20 June 2025 Strike Day

For information about the UCU Edinburgh Hardship and Fighting Fund campaign, please follow this link.

After you have read the guidance below, please apply to the local fund here (form opens in a new window). 

Please note: claims are only eligible from UCUE local funds, not from national funds.

November & September 2025 strike days

There is one place to claim from – the Hardship and Fighting Fund. You use the same form for both and select on the form whether you are claiming from the hardship fund or the fighting fund.

  • Hardship claim – from day 1 – cover all life’s essentials – for those who would not be able to make ends meet due to lost pay.

  • Fighting fund claim – from day 3 – covers different amounts depending on wage level (see below), for those who can afford a little drop in pay.

Both need pay slips to evidence docked pay. Hardship claims need extra evidence of e.g., childcare costs, bank statements – to show that the person is in hardship.

Fighting Fund wage level information - payments will be made:

  • in the sum of £50 for the THIRD and subsequent days of industrial action taken by the member earning £30,000 gross or more per annum; 

  • in the sum of up to £75 for the THIRD and subsequent days of strike action taken by the member earning less than £30,000 gross per annum; and

  • for GH Staff, lost pay will be reimbursed at 100% of lost pay.

For hourly-paid staff

Please apply for all the days of action you took.

We need to see two pieces of evidence:

  1. Your grade and step. Please don’t send your pay slip as this takes time to work out the hourly pay from! The best thing to send is a screenshot of your People and Money record showing your grade and step or your contract of employment. We reimburse holiday pay at 18.6% automatically and know how much hourly pay with this included is, so you don’t need to work that out for us.

  2. The number of hours you lost. You could send us either course timetables showing your usual weekly working pattern, an email from your course organiser to confirm you missed X hours of work, or a screenshot of your previous timesheets showing the hours you usually work.

Where possible please claim for prep time from the University for a non-strike day. For example, if Thursday and Friday in the week you are claiming for were strike days, and you have 2 hours teaching on a Friday with 2 hours’ prep time, claim the 2 hours’ prep time for Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and claim the 2 missed teaching hours from the fund.

For all

UCUE will not have access to the UCU UK Fighting Fund, so all claims will draw on our local Hardship and Fighting Fund

Fighting Fund examples

1.      You are on a £26,500/annum wage. You were on strike for the 20th of June, and the 8th, 9th, and 10th of September.

a.      Total days of Action – 4

b.      Third day of action is the 9th  of September

c.       We reimburse for the 9th and 10th, at a rate of £75/day = £150

2.      You are on a £66,500/annum wage. You were on strike for the 20th of June, and the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of September.

a.      Total days of Action – 5

b.      Third day of action is the 9th  of September

c.       We reimburse for the 9th, 10th and 11th, at a rate of £50/day = £150

3.      You are a GH staff member. You went on strike on the 20th of June open day where you should have had 4 hrs work at £18.96/hr (Grade 6 - Step 1)

a.      Total lost pay = 4 x 18.96 x 1.186 = £89.95

b.      We reimburse £89.95

 

Hardship Fund example

You are on a £30,500/annum wage. You were on strike for the 20th of June, and the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th of September.

a.      Total days of Action – 5

b.      Gross weekly wage - £586.54

c.       Net weekly wage (6.1% USS, NI, PAYE deductions) - £464.55

d.      You provide evidence that childcare costs are £390/week and you ask this to be covered, but you can cover the remaining £75 of lost net pay.

e.      We reimburse £390