News / Education
50 jobs at risk at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College
Government funding cuts are being blamed for staff restructures at South Gloucestershire and Stroud (SGS) College, where up to 50 jobs are at risk.
The mass redundancies are likely to affect academic and corporate roles as the college strives to protect front line student services and provision in the wake of “real time reductions” for full-time post-16 education.
One staff member, who did not want to be named, said the announcement came as a shock to employees, who were not forewarned about the restructure – and added that there is a general feeling that this will not be the last of the cuts.
The college, which has campuses in Bristol, Stroud and Gloucestershire, confirmed it launched a consultation with staff last week and says that up to 50 posts are at risk, with the expectation that 35 roles will be cut.
Thousands marched through the streets of Bristol in May 2017 to protest against education funding cuts
Principal Sara-Jane Watkins said: “Obviously this is a difficult time for the staff involved with the college’s reorganisation. It is not something we want to do and our aim will be to redeploy as many staff as possible.
“However, for those for whom no internal opportunities exist, our focus will be on helping them to find alternative employment outside of the college.
“The college is not planning to close any full-time courses and most part-time courses will run as planned next year. Our main focus continues to be to our learners and ensuring that the provision that we deliver remains high quality and relevant, giving them the best chance to succeed when they leave the organisation.
“To deliver this, and in order to maintain our solvency, we need to reduce our costs in line with the reduction in funding and ongoing increases in running costs.
“These cuts in staffing will not have any impact on the unprecedented levels of growth in full- time 16-18 learner numbers and the college remains fully committed to the £30m redevelopment of the Gloucestershire Science and Technology Park at Berkeley.
“We will continue growing priority areas, including apprenticeships and employer-led training provision.”
Main image from Google streetview.
Read more: ‘Parents picking up the pieces of the education funding crisis in Bristol’
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