A FUNDING crisis facing Northumberland College could force it into making redundancies, principal and chief executive Rachel Ellis-Jones has admitted.
The college, which has a Berwick annex, has entered into a formal process of consultation with staff and unions to look at how it can manage a £1 million cut in funding.
Mrs Ellis-Jones said: "The process so far has been focused towards ideas ar
ound reducing costs and increasing revenues, while also paving the way to ensure the college is 'fighting fit' for the future.
"We will continue to consider the suggestions that have been made so far, but nonetheless, envisage that if these are not sufficient to reduce costs to the level required, then there is a risk that redundancies may become necessary.
"As such, the management team believes it is sensible to move forward into a more formal process of wider consultation."
The college has 139 learners at the main Berwick campus on Adams Drive, 102 at its hairdressing salon and 69 at its construction centre on the Ramparts Business Park.
"They are fairly substantial numbers for Berwick and demonstrate our commitment to the town and surrounding areas," said Mrs Ellis-Jones.
"We want to maintain our vision of being a Northumberland-wide college but one of the problems we have in Northumberland is that it's such a large county.
"Delivery of services is costly but there's no recognition of its rurality in the payments the college receives so clearly to have another £1 million cut in the budget is going to be a problem," she said.
Despite this, she insists the college remains committed to the creation of a state-of-the-art Berwick Skills Centre delivering specialist education and training facilities under one roof.
"We are still pursuing the skills centre idea, working in partnership with Berwick High School and Northumberland Adult Learning Service," she said.
Last year the college spearheaded a £15 million bid to the Learning and Skills Council only for the Government to announce the organisation was being disbanded.
She explained: "The lack of funding generally at the moment, together with the Learning and Skills Council decision, has been the problem but we are continuing to look at it.
"Berwick is very much part of our commitment to serving the training needs of people in north Northumberland."
The further education college, based in Ashington and with six centres throughout the county, has already undergone three weeks of informal consultation to canvass the opinions of employees and unions.
The formal process will last no less than 90 days and Mrs Ellis-Jones stressed that no decisions around how to cut costs have yet been made.
She said: "It's absolutely crucial that the consultation explores every opportunity available and can do so in an atmosphere of trust and understanding.
"No decisions about the way forward have or will be made until we have had time to fully consider all the options, but the current funding issue is extremely problematic in that we've had £1 million taken out of our budget by central Government and, from an £18 million turnover, that is fairly substantial."
She said that given the large central budget cuts, other colleges in the UK are expected to follow suit.
"We are not alone. Other colleges will have to undergo similar processes.
"Our management team believes, however, that the sooner we face these issues the sooner we can push ahead with our ambitious plans for improvements at the college.
"That said, we understand that the current short-term uncertainty for employees is unsettling."
Iain Owens, regional official of the University and College Union (UCU), accused the college of announcing its vague redundancy plans without any consultation with its 400 staff.
"The college has shown absolute contempt for its staff, for its students and for the local community," he said.
"We will be fighting job losses all the way as we have not given up on Northumberland College's students or its reputation yet.
"The college has to come clean with its plans and not hide behind ambiguous and worrying phrases."
The union vowed that it would challenge the decision and warned that it was not ruling out balloting its members over industrial action.
The UCU said it owed it to the students and the local community to ensure the college could still offer the highest quality of education for its students.
