Weymouth College Considers Job Losses

Weymouth College has embarked on a 30-day consultation process with staff and teaching unions, after announcing it needs to cut staffing levels by about 6 per cent. The College announced on 6 May that it faces funding cuts totalling £1 million, or 7 per cent of its income budget.

The college principal, Sue Moore, hopes to save jobs using job-shares, reducing hours and redeployment of roles. Most of the losses will be in support roles, not direct teaching posts. Staff have already been made aware of the position, and will have the chance to discuss available roles with college managers and consider their options, before making a decision.

Income projections for 2011/12 show a reduction in 16-18 funding of £500,000 for 82 fewer learners; a reduction in Additional Learner Support (ALS) funding of £75,000; Young Apprenticeship income reductions of around £60,000; HE reductions of £120,000; the loss of Learn Direct income of £60,000; 14-16 reductions of around £140,000.

Savings of around £300k are anticipated, partly through the closure of the enterprise centre at the Granby Industrial Estate. These savings also mean Weymouth College will have to make fewer redundancies. They propose to make savings of around £570K (7 per cent in cash terms against the total college pay budget) in 11/12.

Final decisions about job losses will be made at the end of the consultation period in June. The job loss announcement comes soon after the college said it would cease to provide A-Levels, due to low numbers of student enrolments.

Sue Moore said: ‘What we offer to students will stay the same in terms of their courses. Students who need individual support will continue to receive it. We are very proud of the level of support we offer.

‘Every college and every school with a sixth form in the area will be facing funding cuts, and will have to make difficult decisions about staffing. We are being forced to make tough choices and we know this is hard on staff, but we are doing all we can to minimise the impact on everyone, staff and students.

‘We have already made a very difficult decision regarding the ceasing of AS-levels at the college; vocational curriculum will be our focus in the future and I am pleased to say that we will be looking to expand the breadth of what we offer in the coming years to support the emerging local and regional skills demands, whilst maintaining our existing breadth of curriculum.

‘We have already made some savings this year that will help to minimise the impact of these further planned savings.’

She added: ‘The board agonised over the decision to cease providing A-Levels, but we believe that we could no longer provide the right quality of learning experience for the number of students enrolling and the funding we were able to claim for such a small cohort. Over the last five years the demand for vocational course has soared while applications for AS Levels have dropped.’

Around 5,000 students from Weymouth, Portland, Dorchester and West Dorset currently attend Weymouth College. Of these, 1,600 are 16-18 years old, studying mostly full-time programmes.

The college offers very well equipped and purpose-built facilities for students to learn courses such as Construction, Engineering, Catering, Care, Travel and Tourism, Hair and Beauty, Sport, Public Services, Art, Music, Performance, Stonemasonry, Advanced Engineering, Media and Hair and Beauty.

Weymouth College has excellent learner IT facilities and a good library. The investment in the Redlands Sports facility provides learners with facilities normally associated with studying in Higher Education, and will be a fantastic Olympic legacy.