PLANNED redundancies in a university law department despite growing student numbers risk creating a severe staffing crisis, the University and College Union (UCU) warned today.

The union said that Sheffield Hallam University’s proposals to reduce academic staffing by 45 per cent are also “impossible to reconcile with … the ongoing requirements of delivering a professionally focused legal education.”

A UCU Hallam spokesman said: “It is impossible to understand the rationale for removing nearly half of the academic staff in Law while student numbers continue to grow. 

“The work does not disappear simply because staff are made redundant.”

The union has also challenged suggestions that staffing gaps could be addressed through lower-grade appointments after experienced colleagues leave.

It is calling on the university executive board to halt compulsory redundancies in law and other affected academic areas and publish a clear, evidence-based justification for the proposed cuts.

The university was contacted for comment.