Tuesday 06-01-2026 - 16:42

Each year, NUS Charity, with the support of ACSU (advisors and caseworkers in students' unions), runs The Big SU Survey: Advice to better understand how advice services across the country operate and how they support their members.

 

The Big SU Survey: Advice 2025 gathered responses from 39 students’ unions across the four nations, representing institutions with student populations ranging from approximately 6,000 to over 40,000.

 

The survey supports us to build a national picture of how SU advice services are structured, resourced and delivered, and to identify emerging pressures and areas of good practice across the sector. It explores the scope of advice provision, staffing capacity, access routes and support for advisors, alongside key trends in casework from the past academic year.

 

This year, our findings show that advice services continue to face sustained increases in case complexity, with students presenting interconnected academic, financial, housing and wellbeing issues. While access to advice is now firmly embedded across the sector, high student-to-advisor ratios, uneven access to specialist support and ongoing challenges around recruitment, retention and emotional labour continue to pose challenges for students’ unions.

 

The report highlights the growing need for shared practice, consistent standards and long-term workforce development to ensure the sustainability of independent, student-centred, advice services.

 

You can read the full report here.