Job cuts at college are ‘disappointing’

On Tuesday the college announced that it had forecast a deficit of £6.5million for the 2012/13 academic year.

Principal Sarah Wright cited over-staffing and an over-estimation of income by the previous senior management as reasons behind the deficit.

The cuts will be across all five college campuses; Horsham, Crawley, East Grinstead, Burgess Hill and Haywards Heath and the restructuring would look at all levels of staff.

Ms Wright told the Middy: “The college is overstaffed, we spend 81 per cent of our income on staffing, the average for the sector is 62 per cent, with some colleges operating at 57 per cent.

“The previous regime was overly-optimistic - it over-estimated the income and failed to reduce staffing levels in line with reducing funding income.”

The 819 members of staff were briefed earlier this week with a 45 day consultation to start on May 10. Ms Wright added that the college would be offering voluntary severance in an attempt to reduce the number of compulsory redundancies it would have to make.

“When I started in January it soon became clear that there had to be big changes, and as part of this process I have implemented a new senior management team,” Ms Wright said. “We looked at the finances in a much deeper, analytical way, and at the same time are looking to see where we can also make savings in expenditure.”

She added: “We are actually behind many other colleges, in that they have been reducing staffing over the last few years, a few jobs at a time or not replacing people when they leave but unfortunately we are now in the position where we have to make significant savings in one round.”

A decrease in the number of adult learners and repeated changes to funding methodology and reductions in funding have made the market challenging.

“It has changed a lot over the last five years and we have had to adapt to include these changes, this is something I feel the previous team didn’t keep on top of,” she added.

This is coupled with the costly new Haywards Heath building which was finished in February. Costing £30million government funding was pulled half way through building which meant the college had to take out loans to finish the work.

“The decision to take a loan for the building work did not help, we borrowed a considerable amount but now we have a building that both staff and students love. I believe this building and the fabulous facilities it offers help us to give students a quality experience and provide a legacy for the Mid Sussex community,” she said.

The college has seen its applications grow by over 25 per cent over the last five years with its popularity growing each year.

“We are looking across all our campuses to see where savings can be made and staff have been really helpful in making suggestions,” Ms Wright said.

She added that the Horsham and Burgess Hill campuses were being looked at closely.

“The leases for both sites are up over the next year so we are reviewing the need for these campuses and the demand for courses based there. This is not definite but is something we will be looking at over the next month or so.”

Ms Wright added that the job losses would not impact on students or courses.

She said: “No courses will be cut due to the reductions to staffing we are making. Every year we review our course offers and alter it according to demand. It is something all colleges do and any changes to courses this summer will not be as a result of staff changes.”

Any staff that are made redundant will leave the college over the summer.