The NUS have lied to York students about the benefits of affiliation

The University of York receives £17,000 less from NUS affiliation than originally stated.

In a blog posted last night, YUSU have admitted that the benefits of affiliation with the NUS are far smaller than originally reported. The benefits statement originally stated that £68,602 was received through rebates and savings received by YUSU as a result of the NUS affiliation however the number is instead £51,864, almost 25 per cent less.

The benefits statement also initially stated that YUSU generated a profit of £18,551 from affiliation, however YUSU generates just £6,452 from being part of the NUS.

Credit: york.ac.uk

The blog post goes on to explain why these errors took place: “During the course of this process it has emerged that the incorrect information was provided by the NUS as part of the original benefits statement. The figures were provided in a period when the NUS’s website was down, and electronic reporting systems were not running.  Unfortunately, due to human error, the incorrect information was given.”

The original figures have been relied upon heavily by the remain campaign in the NUS referendum and may even have swayed students’ vote. The blog post apologised and called for students to complain if they felt the figures affected their voting:

“We apologise to anyone that feels misled by this mistake and would like to advise any student that wishes to make a complaint about the referendum process to do so by 5pm on Tuesday 7 June 2016, in line with the election rules.  Please contact [email protected] to make a complaint.  This includes individual students that feel this information would have altered their vote.”

Alex Lusty, a member of the No2NUS campaign told The Tab: “It’s clear that there has been a significant mistake here. The Yes campaign have been campaigning to stay in the NUS based upon its financial benefit to YUSU, when in fact it is possible that no such benefit exists. Students have been misled and we hope that YUSU will give them the opportunity to change their vote accordingly.”

Alex Wray, a spokesman from Yes2NUS has however stood behind the campaign: “It is unfortunate that a mistake has been made and the wrong figures quoted. But £6K profit plus £35k unseen benefit is still a large amount of money, the arguments for staying in do not change.”

Voting in the NUS referendum closes tomorrow, however, in light of these recent revelations, YUSU may be forced to extend the voting.