Durham has been listed among Russell Group universities whose spending exceeded income in 2024–2025. That HESA figure needs context. Durham is not an institution in crisis.
According to the University’s July 2025 Annual Report, Durham’s expenditure exceeded income by £8.3 million. The University also spent £11.9 million on severance in the same year. Without severance costs, the accounts would have recorded an operating surplus of £3.6 million. The deficit did not cause the cuts. Rather, it tells us how much the cuts cost.
Durham had an underlying deficit of £6.7 million in 2023–2024. On income of £514 million, that is a shortfall of 1.3%. A severance programme costing £11.9 million is a heavy answer to a small gap.
Income grew 3.8% to £534.1 million. Net assets rose by £11.3 million to £554.5 million. In September 2025 the University expanded its credit facility to £200 million, and it has been named Times and Sunday Times University of the Year 2026.
In 2024–2025, 424 staff received payments for loss of office, up from 119 the previous year. The University reports that headcount fell by around 5%. Durham’s aggressive severance programme targeted a £20 million reduction in staff costs over two years – £15 million in professional services staff and £5 million in academic staff. On the University’s own comparable basis, the number of staff paid over £100,000 rose from 137 to 175.
Durham knows staff are under strain: it raised its own people and culture risk rating during the year and began rolling out new stress risk assessment guidance in 2025. Durham UCU’s Health and Safety Representatives are carrying out stress risk inspections, and we’re talking to staff across the University about how workloads are affecting them.
Jamie Callahan, Durham UCU Branch Co-President, said: ‘Durham was not forced into job cuts. Income rose, its balance sheet strengthened, it won University of the Year. We took strike action over this programme, and it still cut hundreds of posts. Our members are carrying that workload now.’