Eighty staff to lose jobs in Sandwell College cutbacks
More than 80 staff at Sandwell College are set to lose their jobs in a major redundancy and restructuring programme.
It is believed that catering courses could be among the many areas hit at Sandwell College, where bosses are finalising a package of cuts to cope with slashed public services funding.
Principal Val Bailey said the “difficult” measures were needed to “ensure its ongoing security”.
But a spokesman for University College Union, which has around 150 members at Sandwell College, described the situation as “shocking” and said a meeting had already been called to discuss “resistance” to the measures.
About 20 per cent of England’s colleges and universities are taking similar measures as they face £1.4 billion in cuts.
At City College in Birmingham, 78 redundancies are planned along with course closures and at Birmingham Metropolitan College there are plans to make around 100 staff redundant.
The package of cuts at Sandwell College, which has campuses in Oldbury, Smethwick and West Bromwich, means around 11 per cent of its workforce face redundancy. However, a college spokesman said she couldn’t specify which departments would be hit.
Ms Bailey said: “The new Government has committed to tackle the public sector deficit and secure economic recovery. The scale of the savings that will need to be made to bring the public finances back under control means that further education has not been excluded from those changes.
“A very difficult decision has had to be taken to make some significant changes within the college to ensure its ongoing security. It is anticipated that 85 positions are likely to be redundant or leave the college through the restructuring process.
"Voluntary redundancies will be considered based on business needs. This route is the most favourable and may assist the college in avoiding the need for compulsory redundancies.
“We endeavour to have finalised the restructuring and redundancy process by the end of July. This is a difficult position for us all and we do understand the feelings of our staff. The intention is to make the process as fair as possible to everyone.”
It is the fifth round of job cuts in five years at the college, according to UCU regional official Nick Varney.
“We have suffered redundancies at other colleges due to reductions in the funding of adult learners announced at the beginning of this year,” he said.
Ms Bailey said that construction of the college’s new £77 million campus in Spon Lane, West Bromwich, would not be affected by the cuts.
“Financing of the new college is separate from the funding for courses at the existing college,” she said.
