STAFF at Kirklees College are being asked to help cut the wages bill.
Hundreds of workers in all positions are being asked to make sacrifices to help prevent more job losses.
In an email sent out to all employees in all positions, the college’s human resources department has asked for volunteers to step forward.
The move follows the news that the college has had its budget cut by £5.4m for the upcoming academic year, which starts in September.
The college is asking staff to consider a number of options, including:
Reducing the number of hours worked per week
Teaching staff to consider going part time
Reducing the number of weeks worked a year, such as only working term-time or a fixed number of weeks
Buying more annual leave
Phased retirement
Staff have to receive the approval of their head of departments and it is unlikely that key staff will be allowed to take some of the options.
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Director of human resources Jane Simpson said: “As part of the college’s efforts to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies following significant budget cuts, all staff have been offered some voluntary options to contribute to staff cost reductions.
“Many staff have welcomed the opportunity to reduce their hours by a small amount and improve their work-life balance, and some have already taken the opportunity to take a few days extra annual leave since it was introduced last year.”
College officials have confirmed that the equivalent of 56 full-time jobs have to go – and as many staff are part-time, that could mean even more redundancies.
Staff are concerned that some of the job losses will affect students with disabilities.
The Additional Learning Support service may be hit hard as there will be big cuts in funded teaching hours on the courses attended by the majority of students who need support.
Teaching posts will also be affected due to the reduced number of hours the government is funding for 16-18 year old students in the Foundation Studies department.
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