The majority of universities in the UK are struggling with money at the moment. Several are resorting to extreme measures in order to cut back costs, such as merging academic departments, sacking staff, closing courses, and even restricting period products. All this cost-cutting is actually costing unis loads of money. A whopping 37 UK universities spent over £1 million on restructuring last year.
The UK university that spent the most money on restructuring last year might surprise you. The Open University burned through nearly £30 million on these projects. The uni reported an operating deficit of £25.1 million in summer 2023, and has since started two voluntary severance schemes.
Sheffield Hallam University wasn’t far behind. They’ve spent more than £17 million on restructuring. Staff at Sheffield Hallam are striking throughout November and December over the proposed budget cuts.
Joint Rally Report: A Day of Solidarity
Yesterday, we held a well attended joint rally with Sheffield UCU. There were speakers from both branches and we heard from Dave Pike, TUC Regional Secretary, NE Yorkshire and Humber.#SaveSheffieldHallam pic.twitter.com/WyihaHwKGc
— UCUHallam (@UCUHallam) November 18, 2025
Even the prestigious Russell Group unis are having to make huge changes. Three Russell Group unis – Imperial College London, the University of Manchester and Queen Mary University of London – all spent over £1 million on restructuring.
Now, I’m sure management at these unis would argue that spending so much money on restructuring will ultimately save them money in the long-term. Many UK unis are struggling for funds as tuition fees haven’t been rising alongside the cost of living, and fewer international students study here after Brexit and the pandemic. It’s pretty jarring to see exactly how much cash has been spent on this over the last year. The restructuring costs include money used for one-off redundancies as a result of restructuring, such as cutting courses or merging departments.
This data all comes from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), and refers to the 2023/2024 academic year (as that’s the most up-to-date data available).
So, here are the 37 UK universities which spent over £1,000,000 on restructuring costs, ranked by who spent the most:
37. City St George’s, University of London (previously City, University of London and St George’s University of London) – £1,000,000
36. University of Manchester – £1,006,000
The Manchester Uni campus
35. Imperial College London – £1,049,000
34. Kingston University – £1,083,000
33. Falmouth University – £1,140,000
32. Buckinghamshire New University – £1,175,000
31. Birbeck, University of London – £1,240,000
30. De Montfort University – £1,294,000
29. University of Derby – £1,435,000
28. University of Bradford – £1,730,000
27. Canterbury Christ Church University – £1,902,000
26. University of Gloucestershire – £2,020,000
25. University of Brighton – £2,047,000
24. Queen Mary University of London – £2,066,000
23. Aberystwyth University – £2,098,000
Part of Aberystwyth Uni is in an actual castle and I’m obsessed
22. University of Sunderland – £2,183,000
21. University of Greater Manchester (previously the University of Bolton) – £2,416,000
20. Oxford Brookes University – £2,446,000
19. University of Huddersfield – £2,753,000
18. University of Plymouth – £2,926,000
17. Robert Gordon University – £3,441,000
16. University of Kent – £4,385,000
15. London South Bank University – £4,536,000
14. University of South Wales – £4,659,000
13. Aston University – £5,103,000
12. University of Hull – £5,288,000
11. Glasgow Caledonian University – £5,840,000
The library at GCU (Credit: Knwwsss)
10. University of Aberdeen – £6,310,000
9. Bournemouth University – £6,645,000
8. University of Surrey – £6,651,000
7. Middlesex University – £7,331,000
6. Nottingham Trent University – £7,754,000
5. Swansea University – £8,461,000
4. Leeds Beckett University – £10,354,000
3. University of Lancashire (previously the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) – £10,462,000
2. Sheffield Hallam University – £17,468,000
1. The Open University – £29,704,000
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Featured image of Leeds Beckett University by Mtaylor848.
