The merging of the academic and other services provided by the UK’s 160 universities could lead to job losses, Unite, the largest union in the country, has warned.

Unite’s concern centres on the current talks between Lancaster and Liverpool universities which are holding preliminary discussions to explore ‘the benefits’ of closer collaboration, and follows the sharing of services by Warwick, Birmingham and Nottingham universities.

Unite’s national officer for education, Mike Robinson, called for the management at both Lancaster and Liverpool to be ‘transparent and open’ in their discussions on shared services. At present, the talks were ‘opaque and hidden from view’. Liverpool employs 8,300 staff and Lancaster 5,200.

He said: ”Unite is concerned that services could be merged with potential for job losses. We call on the senior management of both Liverpool and Lancaster universities to make clear any closer co-operation will not result in compulsory job losses.”