KENT and Greenwich university fat cats claimed their merger into a so-called super-university will allow them to tackle the Neets crisis, despite workers warning of almost certain redundancies.

Bosses of the new London & South East University Group said in a statement published today that the universities will be much stronger as they face intense financial challenges after the merger.

University & College Union (UCU) general secretary Jo Grady has branded the deal a takeover by Greenwich rather than a merger, as Kent was “on the brink of insolvency.”

There would almost certainly be redundancies as a result, Ms Grady told the BBC when the deal, which took effect last month, was announced.

She said: “I also think this is a broader problem for the sector. Both of these institutions should have been on the government’s radar, and rather than stepping in, we’re seeing that this is how a crisis is managed.

“This isn’t offering stability to students, to staff or to the sector.”

The new group, known as Lase, is now the third-largest university in Britain with more than 50,000 students and four campuses in Kent, Medway and London.

University of Greenwich vice-chancellor and Lase chief executive Professor Jane Harrington said the group is better placed to address certain needs that the individual universities would have been unable to deal with.

Speaking ahead of Lase’s official launch today, Prof Harrington said the merger was an “opportunity for us to address the very people that the government’s worried about.

“Everyone probably now is starting to be familiar with the term Neets — basically people who are not in employment, education, or training — and it’s those very young people that we can now actually really start to look at what skills do they need?”

But claims of increased capacity after the “merger” follow previous comments from Prof Harrington recognising that there would be concern about posts, saying they would be saving costs by reducing senior roles.

Last year, Greenwich confirmed it was cutting the equivalent of 15 full-time posts by August. And Kent has reportedly started winding down some courses to reduce costs after posting a £31 million deficit in 2024.

The UCU has estimated the overall number of posts cut across institutions in England was about 5,000 last year.