redundancy

The Insolvency Service said affected employees would be supported via the redundancy payments service and the official receiver was prioritising "the ongoing process to secure the sale of the refinery".

The overall number of employees has dropped from 1,100 to 700 in the past two years following controversial redundancies.

Lara Chaplin, from Coventry UCU, said the university were "millions and millions pounds in deficit" and were all pulling together to try to reduce the deficit, but the senior leadership team was "making widespread redundancies".

Defending its job evaluation process as "fair and transparent", the local authority said affected workers had been offered other jobs, voluntary redundancy or pay protection for six months.

The union said more than 250 positions at the university have already been lost this year through voluntary redundancies and a further 13 could be at risk through compulsory redundancies.