Jobs could go at Kirklees College.
Worried staff have been told the college has to make big savings and that some redundancies are likely.
College bosses have revealed details of the financial headache they face but insisted that they hoped to lessen the impact on staff and courses. They said it was too early to say what jobs could be affected.
But one worker at the Manchester Road Waterfront campus, who did not want to be named, said: “It is very worrying.
“We were called into a meeting on Thursday and told that some staff will have to go. No-one knows who will be going.
“It seems to be across several departments and people are concerned”.
Peter McCann, principal at Kirklees College said, “Kirklees College, like other FE colleges across the country is dealing with significant cuts to its funding . This is coupled with a number of increased costs.
“There has been a national 24% reduction in government funding for adult training and education in 2015/16 (apart from Apprenticeships, and English and maths) which will reduce the college’s income by £1.6million for 2015-16.
“The full impact from the cut in funding for 18 year olds announced last year comes into effect in August 2015 and means a reduction of a further £700,000 in our income for 2015/16.
“Like other colleges the college also needs to meet the cost of an increased employer contribution to National Insurance for the majority of staff, which means an increase to staffing costs of £420,000 per year. And finally, employer contributions to the Teacher Pension Scheme will increase from 14.1% to 16.48% for staff at all pay levels from 1 September 2015. This will increase staff costs by £190,000 per year.
“We are optimistic at this stage that we can manage cost reductions without impact on the majority of staff. There have been initial consultations with a small number of teams and managers to agree how we can attract more income, or achieve savings.
“The impact of these cuts is being felt across the country and colleges are having to look at how we can protect areas of provision such as English as a Second Language, skills training for the unemployed and Access to Higher Education for 19-23 year olds (people aged over 24 can obtain a loan).
“We are working closely with employers and Kirklees Council to ensure we maximise every opportunity to generate government and European funding and minimise impact on our staff and our community”.
