Aberdeen University facing job cuts and recruitment pause as costs surge

Aberdeen University is to cut staff numbers and freeze recruitment as it deals with a £4.7 million increase in costs.

A university spokesperson said a “very small” number of vacant posts have been cut due to costs increasing by at least £4.7 million in the 2025/2026 financial year.

The university said it has been hit by higher national insurance contributions, a pay award from the previous year, inflation and the payment of increments.

A notice sent to staff said “good progress” had been made to stabilise and improving the financial position through managing operating costs, setting savings targets and pausing recruitment on some roles throughout the institution.

The steps are regrettable but necessary to help us offset some of our rising costs and continue to navigate unprecedented times for our sector

It said it is confident it will reach the financial target set by the university court – a deficit of £6.5 million in the current financial year.

However, with overall running costs estimated to increase by £4.7 million this year, the university said that in addition to making a small number of job cuts, it would revisit the voluntary redundancy and enhanced retirement schemes that were declined last year.

It said colleagues would be given a further update by the end of April.

A university spokesperson said: “We’ve made good progress on stabilising and improving our financial position by managing our costs, setting tough savings targets and pausing recruitment on many roles.

“We now need to make further savings as costs for 2025/26 are set to climb by at least £4.7m due to higher National Insurance contributions, last year’s pay award, the payment of increments and inflationary pressures across a wide range of areas.

“We are taking early action to bring costs down and this includes stopping almost all staff recruitment, revisiting Voluntary Severance and Enhanced Retirement for previously declined applications and pausing the academic promotion exercise.

“The steps are regrettable but necessary to help us offset some of our rising costs and continue to navigate unprecedented times for our sector.”