Students and graduates are suing their University for poor teaching during the pandemic. 

David Hamon, a postgraduate student from University College London (UCL) and lead claimant expressed “I was promised studying at ‘London’s Global University’.. … what I actually got was an online degree delivered in my bedroom”. 

UCL have said “throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we prioritised the health and safety of our whole community”. 

Shimon Goldwater, a partner at Asserson Law Offices, said “between 2018 and 2021, their tuition fee income went up by more than £1 billion … these are profitable institutions, they can afford, in our view, to give students the compensation that they deserve”. 

Around 155,000 students have submitted claims against 100+ universities around the country for not receiving their “consumer rights”. As Mr Hamon explains, “We purchased something and it’s clear that what we got was not what we bought”. 

These students are all being represented by the Student Group Claim which has brought together two experts in group litigation, Asserson and Harcus Parker, with the group stating on their website, “these two highly regarded firms, along with a third party funder, have the experience and financial backing to take on these deep-pocketed institutions”. 

“We take on each student or graduate’s claim against their university on a no win, no fee basis. If the claim is unsuccessful, our clients will have nothing to pay. If their claim is successful, our clients will pay us no more than 35% of any damages that they’re awarded. It is this fee that makes the Student Group Claim possible”, the website adds. 

The Student Group claim have said “the claims are for breach of contract. Universities entered contracts with students promising to provide teaching and access to facilities, but during Covid and strike action by staff, universities did not provide those services in full. Students are therefore entitled to compensation for the difference in value between the services promised and the services actually provided”. 

The High Court has now made important decisions in the first Student Group Claim court action, David Hamon & Others v University College London. 

5,000 UCL students have had a long-winded process of over a year hoping for a settlement with UCL have now received a trial date. 

A year ago, the defendant, University College London (UCL), asked the court to block the claims indefinitely until students first completed an internal UCL complaint. 

In July 2023 the High Court rejected UCL’s attempt to mandate such an approach, raising concern “whether UCL … have sufficient resources to deal with this volume of complaints”. 

After a two-day hearing in the Royal Courts of Justice, judge Senior Master Cook directed that a four-week trial will take place during the January to April 2026 period. 

Matthew Patching, solicitor to Student Group Claim (partner at Harcus Parker) comments, “with trial now fixed for 18-months time, UCL should focus on making a reasonable settlement proposal to the claimants rather than continuing to fight this claim through to the end”. 

The two legal firms have said, “Thousands more students are expected to join the Student Group Claim as it progresses; the total value of compensation could reach into the hundreds of millions of pounds”. 

On their website, they express that even if a student has missed a few classes due to strike action under English Law, they are entitled to compensation. 

“We are helping thousands of students fix one of the worst injustices of the Covid Pandemic”, Mr Goldwater has said.