Background
STFC is currently facing significant financial pressures and will need to make cost reductions of £162 million by the end of the 2029 to 2030 financial year to achieve a sustainable operating budget. All departments within STFC, including the Central Laser Facility, have been asked to make recommendations on ways to reduce their operational costs. Clearly, this has the potential to impact the CLF's user programme.
Current user programme in the CLF
The CLF operates a user access programme across its High Power Laser, Laser Spectroscopy and Laser Imaging Facilities, and typically delivers 260 operational weeks of user access per year across all facilities.
In recent years, the CLF has received investment from UKRI and other partners to bring online modern, future facing facilities. These investments are well aligned to UKRI's new funding model, enabling a balance of curiosity driven research, delivery against HMG's Industrial Strategy, including defence and national security, and support for the growth of companies and industry. As the new facilities come online, CLF continues to sunset time served infrastructures.
As part of the modernisation of the CLF, Vulcan was decommissioned in 2023 to make way for the future Vulcan 20-20 facility. The CLF is currently operating a reduced user programme while some of our facilities are undergoing upgrades. Ultra is operating at reduced capacity and Artemis is currently offline to enable the technical aspects of the HiLUX upgrade. Octopus currently operates at full capacity. Gemini, now operating at full capacity, is the CLF's only operational High Power Laser facility and is expected to be sunset once EPAC is operational.
User consultations regarding impact of further cost reductions
The user communities of STFC's Multi-disciplinary Facilities, including the CLF user community, have published an open letter to UKRI's CEO Prof. Sir Ian Chapman and STFC's Executive Chair Prof. Michele Dougherty, emphasising the need to "communicate transparently with all affected research communities, including those who may not yet have fully understood their exposure to the consequences of these cuts".
During the recent LSF User meeting and at the Vulcan 20-20 and EPAC user meetings, the user community approached the CLF to express their concerns about the impact such cost reductions may have on the community.
We now need your input to better understand the impact of potential CLF budget reductions and would value any comments or suggestions that you may have.
Your views are essential – please provide them via the online form by 12 May 2026. All responses will be read and collated by the CLF leadership team. Please note that responses to this form are submitted anonymously: when you submit the form, it will not automatically collect any details like name and email address unless you provide them yourself in the free text boxes.
Please see the frequently asked questions below.
Thank you.
Online form
FAQ
Q: Why might the CLF need to make cost reductions?
A: Global economic pressures, as well as the rises in costs involved in running complex technical facilities and services, mean that STFC's operating costs have risen significantly and STFC needs to reduce its net annual operational costs. The amount of the reduction, relative to current forecasts, is £162 million by the end of the 2029 to 2030 financial year. As part of STFC, the CLF is being asked to make recommendations on ways to reduce its operating budget to enable STFC to meet its budget. Savings need to be fully in place by the end of financial year 2029-30 but have already started and will continue to be made over upcoming years.
Q: Does this potential cost reduction only affect the CLF?
A: No, the issue affects STFC's operational budget and all infrastructure and research areas funded by STFC (including multi-disciplinary facilities) are subject to review.
Q: What are the possible measures that the CLF will have to consider reducing its budget?
A: We must consider several approaches which may include reductions in operating time and scientific, engineering and computing support given to users, as well support for travel and subsistence.
Q: What are the timescales for decisions?
A: Savings need to be made each year to reach the full annual saving total of £162 million by the end of financial year 2029-30. The CLF has been asked to make recommendations on ways to reduce its operating budget by the end of May 2026, so that the STFC Executive Board can review the options in June. STFC will then submit its plans to UKRI with final decisions expected around October 2026.
Q: How can we give our views on this?
A: The time is short for community feedback. We need your input to better understand how potential cost reductions to the CLF budget would impact your research. Your views are essential – please provide them via the online form by 12 May 2026. All responses will be read and collated by the CLF leadership team.
You can provide your views to CLF by:
If you would prefer to give your comments to a member of the user community, you can:
- E-mail Kathi Edkins, Chair of STFC's Multidisciplinary Facility User (MFU) Advisory Panel, which provides advice to STFC. Please note that the MFU Advisory Panel is there for the user community regarding questions, concerns, and feedback. Any consultation on STFC decisions to the community will also come through this panel..
Q: Will the Vulcan 20-20 and HiLUX projects be affected?
A: The HiLUX project is funded primarily through the UKRI Infrastructure Fund, which is not affected by STFC's financial situation and will continue as planned.
The majority of the funding for the Vulcan 20-20 project also comes from the UKRI Infrastructure Fund, which is not affected by STFC's financial situation. Around 28% funding is due to come from STFC and so may be affected by the current financial situation; this may impact the delivery times of the project. In addition, AWE has contributed £10 million to the project.
Once the projects are completed, the future Vulcan 20-20 facility, and the upgraded Ultra and Artemis facilities, will be subject to the same review of operational budgets.
Q: Will the start of operations for the upcoming Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC) be affected?
A: The EPAC project will be complete in November 2026. We recently held a meeting with the user community event to start planning commissioning experiments ahead of the planned start of operations in 2027. There is currently no budget allocation for operations beyond November 2026. We expect that this will become known within this financial year (2026-27).
