Marking boycott: half of Cambridge finalists might not graduate

So, ‘at least’ 400 PGTs have to wait around for degree results incurring ‘costs of close to £1000’? That is a damages bill for the U’s breach of contract amounting to some £400k - and add a bit for hassle/anxiety damages plus some compensation to those whose earning opportunities might be delayed or plans for further study disrupted, and one gets to, say, £1m? And that is before thinking about UGs… Assuming what passes for an express U-S business-to-consumer contract at Cambridge even has a force majeure exclusion/limitation of liability clause, the May 2023 CMA guidance (and indeed previous OIA adjudications) suggest that such a term in relation to industrial action is likely to be an unfair term under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 and hence invalid. Of course, any U can simply exit the national pay bargaining process and agree a local settlement - as a very few have over recent years - and hence, arguably, the disruption from this industrial action is not a force majeure instance as something utterly beyond the control of a U - just as some Us have set up alternative marking or degree deciding arrangements.

Legal industrial action is definitely not going to count as force majeure. For the same reason alternative degree classification approaches established in COVID should not have been used as a precedent for the response to the MAB. Students are rightfully going to be angry when they work out they're getting the wrong degree classifications because their submitted work hasn't been marked and temp regs are sweeping those assessments under the carpet. What is worse - to graduate late - or to graduate with the wrong classification? Either way its a complete mess and a new low for UK HE.