What is happening?
For a range of reasons, the Students’ Union is reviewing our elected, paid, full time Officer roles (Sabbatical Officers) to reduce from 5 from 2026.
Full time sabbatical officers in UK Students' Unions are students who are elected by their peers and paid to take a year off from their studies (or at the end) to dedicate their time to advocate and campaign for the rights and needs of students. They represent student current interests and voices to the university and beyond.
How are these being reviewed and decided?
There are a few stages in place to review role needs and thoughts and make any decisions about future roles:
Step 1) 13 consultations have taken place with specific students and some staff with a range of engagement in Students’ Union and student life activity. The groups were asked to consider a range of duties and tasks associated with current paid full time elected officer roles, consider what might be missing and need representation, and to group into themes before choosing a maximum of 4 to individually prioritise.
Step 2) The outcomes of all of these sessions and summary of discussions will be considered by the Trustee Board alongside other considerations such as student demographics, student needs insight, the range of committees currently attended and University structures and any other SU duties and requirements. The Trustee Board will then propose a number of officer team combinations which will then go to all students to vote on.
Step 3) All students will be able to rank the team options in order of preference in an all student vote which will take place online via our website. This will take place between Monday 9th to 12 noon on Friday the 13th December.
Step 4) If at least 500 students vote then the option with a simple majority will form the roles that are elected in 2026. Please note that there are no plans to implement any changes in 2025. We want to make sure that we are able to communicate any changes and consider any implications and feel that this would be difficult to achieve by the time students can stand for election for next year. We are also aware that some students may already plan to run for existing roles.
Why Are We Doing This?
There are a number of factors that have influenced the decision to reduce officer roles and that have informed the consultation:
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Our priority as a students’ union is always to ensure that you - our student members - get the support you need during your time at university. From providing advice and support with all aspects of student life, to campaigning on issues you care about, and supporting your sports, hobbies and interests, we need to ensure that we are using our resources in a way that prioritises your student experience.
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Nationally, the average ratio of sabbatical officers to students is roughly 1 officer to every 4,000 students. In Aber it is 1 sabbatical Officer to 1252 students - which means it makes sense to streamline our officer team in order to ensure we can devote resources to your student experience.
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In 2016 Students’ Union Trustees restructured the staff team to reduce costs and ensure we were for purpose. At the same time, they intended to reduce the Officer team (and commissioned an external role review with NUS to reduce to 4 officers. That review recommended to change titles which were helpful but we felt the recommendations of what roles to remove/retain weren’t workable for Aber at that time.
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Students passed policy to review the number of FT Officers in 2020
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In response to the policy the Students’ Union commissioned another consultant to run another review to reduce from 5 to 4. Once again, the suggestions felt unworkable for Aber, which is why we are now running this comprehensive new consultation to develop a structure proposal that is appropriate for Aber..
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When considering the use of SU resources each Sabbatical Officer costs the SU around £35,000 per year when taking into account their salary, training and additional costs such as National Insurance and pension contributions.
Why are all students able to vote on the future of all roles?
Undeb Aber belongs to our student members, so it’s only fair that all members should have an opportunity to have a say in how our resources are used.
Students’ Union’s are governed by the Education Act 1994. Part 2 of the Education Act 1994 talks about students’ unions and outlines what universities and colleges need to do to make sure that they are run in a fair, open, and responsible way. It specifically includes that: “appointment to major union offices should be by election in a secret ballot in which all members are entitled to vote;” As all of our sabbatical elected roles are considered to be “major offices” the Students’ Union is required to allow all students to vote on future roles.
What should you do if you have questions?
You can ask questions of the process by emailing: suvoice@aber.ac.uk