Strike compensation claims now 5,000 strong and growing

The student group action seeking compensation for classes cancelled by universities due to lecturer strikes earlier this year has risen from 1,000 to 5,000 members in a matter of weeks.

The rise is currently at a rate of around 500 new sign-ups a week. As of today, Shimon Goldwater, a senior solicitor at Asserson, has confirmed that 59 students from the University of Warwick have joined the compensation claim.

Asserson, the law firm that brought together the compensation claim group, estimates that the claim against Universities has already risen to £5million, with the potential to rise to £20million.

The claim has also received formal advice from one of the UK’s leading barristers from One Essex Court, who has concluded that the claims are likely to succeed.

They stated: “The overall merits appear to favour the students; they are consumers who have paid a significant fee in exchange for tuition, a proportion of which has simply not been provided.”

The claim would likely be for breach of contract to seek damages for lost teaching time due to clauses in universities’ contracts with students excluding liability for loss caused by strike action.

The University of Warwick stated during the strike that “it is not anticipated that refunds would need to be made”

However, Asserson considers that under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, such exclusion clauses could be ruled void, and this view is now supported by advice from a leading commercial barrister.

Asserson analysis of the students who have signed up from the website found that the top five universities with the most student sign-ups are the University of Nottingham with 446 students, Durham University with 371, University of Kent with 295, Kings College London with 265, and the University of Bristol 256 students.

Their analysis also shows that 16 per cent of those who have signed-up are from outside the EU. At the University of Warwick, the 2017-2018 overseas cohort paid on average £17,460 in tuition fees for a basic ‘classroom’ degree, significantly more than the maximum of £9,250 which UK and EU students pay.

According to responses to Freedom of Information requests, Russell Group universities alone have withheld an estimated £8 million in salaries from striking staff.

At the moment, no university has offered to pay any of the money saved directly to students affected by the strikes.

Some universities have suggested the money could be spent on general services for students or on providing free graduation gown hire.

The University of Warwick stated during the strike that “it is not anticipated that refunds would need to be made” and that “academic departments will be supported to identify alternative ways to ensure required learning outcomes can be delivered.”

At the most recent All Student Meeting at the end of May, the motion entitled ‘Warwick SU for returning Tuition fees from strike days’ passed overwhelmingly with 75 percent of those voting in favour of the motion.

Shimon Goldwater said: “The compensation claim against Universities is building rapidly. Not only are we receiving 500 new sign ups a week, a leading barrister’s advice reaffirms our long-held view that that this claim is likely to succeed.”

At the most recent All Student Meeting at the end of May, the motion entitled ‘Warwick SU for returning Tuition fees from strike days’ passed overwhelmingly

He continued: “Students are telling us that they have been following advice from their unions and the universities to use standard complaints procedures when asking for compensation, with absolutely no sign of progress.

“In fact, we have not heard of a single instance of a student receiving proper financial compensation for cancelled teaching time. Universities are presumably hoping that this problem will go away, but this claim shows that thousands of students are not willing to sit by and pay for a service which was cancelled.

“The size of this claim, based on £1000 compensation per student, has already risen to £5million, with the potential to hit £20million. If a more generous method is used to calculate damages, the sums at stake could double.”

Mr Goldwater concluded: “With the UCU estimating in March that strike action affected a million students, with the loss of 575,000 teaching hours that was not rescheduled, it is not surprising that the claim has attracted 5,000 students in the space of a few weeks.

This is already one of the largest student group legal actions ever to have been launched in the UK.”

The firm consider that they now have sufficient students signed up to the group claim to apply for a Group Litigation Order in the near future. To ensure that the claim is adequately funded, though, Asserson is seeking to add several thousand more students to the group action.

Asserson plans shortly to apply for a Group Litigation Order once adverse costs insurance is in place to protect students from any costs risk.

Once that is granted, those students that are not part of the group would still have a few months within which to join the collective action and the firm will also be seeking funding for the claim from specialist litigation funding firms.