Hundreds of staff members could leave the University of York due to cuts, the University and College Union (UCU) has said.

A voluntary severance scheme was announced in April as the institution looks to reduce its budget by £34m.

UCU estimated between 300 and 700 members of staff could leave on 31 October, which would “inevitably cause disruption to staff and students”.

The University of York said it was doing “all it could” to protect jobs.

A union spokesperson said losing so many staff, particularly in the middle of the first semester, would cause “higher workloads and considerable risk to the health and wellbeing of the staff who remain”.

They added: “It will inevitably result in a diminished teaching and learning environment for students and it will damage our community.”

Though the union branch said it was not against voluntary severance as a means of reducing the staff budget, it objected to “the lack of meaningful consultation”.

It said there was “deliberately no plan” for November to encourage voluntary severance applications.

In a statement, the university said it continued to face “increasing costs” and had “moved quickly” to manage its finances by reducing operating costs, pausing major capital programmes and introducing a voluntary severance scheme.

A spokesman added: “We appreciate this may be an unsettling time for some colleagues and we are doing all we can to protect jobs.”