Students at UCL have voted for Students' Union UCL to leave NUS UK

This week, we held a referendum on our membership of the National Union of Students (NUS UK). 

3,021 students voted, passing the minimum threshold to make the outcome binding. 

The results: 

We join Cambridge, LSE, Manchester and Bath in disaffiliating from NUS UK this academic year. In total, 25 university students’ unions are not affiliated to NUS UK.

The last vote on the Union's affiliation to NUS was held in 2023, where students voted to remain.  

What is NUS UK? 

In the past NUS was a single organisation, but since 2019 it has become two separate organisations - NUS UK and NUS Charity. 

NUS UK is a registered company that exists to represent the views and interests of students based at UK Universities through national campaigns and political lobbying. This democratic arm of the NUS has Full-Time Officers, with their work guided by the National and Liberation Conferences. 

NUS Charity is a membership body who supports Unions to develop, through training and resources and has a trading consortium which allows us to offer discounted prices in our outlets. We remain a member of NUS Charity. 

What does the result mean for the students’ union? 

We will no longer participate in or be able to shape NUS campaigns, be able to vote for the officers who lead NUS or participate in their national conferences. 

We save around £23,040 annually in affiliation fees. 

We are still able to work with other unions on national campaigning and we will continue to take a leading alongside other Russell Group Students’ Unions on national influencing priorities.

If students wanted to, they could use our democratic processes to hold a vote re-affiliate in the future.