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Jobs at risk at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group

7 February 2017

Around 100 staff at Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group risk losing their jobs after the college announced plans to save £2m. UCU said the college's plans would have a devastating impact on educational opportunities in Staffordshire and called on the college to give full details of any outsourcing plans.

UCU believes the majority of redundancies would affect staff based at the Stafford site with up to a quarter of people potentially losing their jobs. The union said it understood the need for some rationalisation in a newly merged college, however it questioned the college's commitment to growth and local people's educational needs if the plans result in a reduction in courses and larger class sizes.

The union said those at risk include lecturers, assessors, technicians, support staff, library staff, and those with administrative roles. UCU warned that the outsourcing element of the plans could result in further job cuts and the closure of a nursery, which the union says would make it much harder for local people to attend college.

Local UCU rep Steph Tague said: 'Some rationalisation was expected, but as the college already has ambitious growth plans in place these proposals seem to make little sense. The college should focus on offering local people a broad range of courses, not increasing class sizes or narrowing the curriculum.'

Last updated: 7 February 2017