UHI Moray planning measures to address "significant financial challenges" amid claims 45 staff members could be made redundant
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UHI Moray says that it is planning measures to address "significant financial challenges" amid claims that the college will make 45 staff members redundant.
In an email sent anonymously to The Northern Scot, it has been claimed that the college will need to make a number of redundancies between now and July to stay operational.
It is understood that this will include 25 lecturers and 20 support staff.
Principal David Patterson confirmed that the college was facing "significant financial challenges" last year.
He also revealed that the college had been operating under a "nuanced job freeze" for six months which had saved over £500,000 in staffing costs, but added that "additional reductions" would be needed.
Mr Patterson said: "UHI Moray staff are doing a great job to maintain the historically high levels of student achievement and student satisfaction in our community but we all have genuine concerns as to what the future will hold.
"As previously discussed in the Principal’s column in this paper, we will have to tailor the services we continue to provide due to the declining level of funding and the increasing level of costs that we face."
Staff at UHI Moray were briefed on the current situation in the college sector in Scotland on their return to work on January 8.
They were shown data from a Scottish Funding Council (SCF) report which said that colleges across the nation are operating in a "deteriorating" fiscal environment due to real terms reductions in government funding and reducing tuition fees.
The SFC have also forecast that 20 per cent of college staff across Scotland will have to leave the sector over the next period as colleges look to balance their budgets.
UHI Moray met with the college's Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) of trade unions and staff representatives to discuss the potential impact of the situation on Thursday (January 18).
However, Mr Patterson says that the college will not discuss the situation externally until those internal discussions have taken place.
He added: "The paper to be discussed with the JCC outlines a proposed curriculum offer for next year that will maximise the positive impact we can continue to have in meeting our community’s needs, while at the same time seeking to make the necessary staffing reductions.
"We would hope to be able to share more of our plans with our wider community in the near future."
Representatives of EIS-FELA, which represents college lecturers across Scotland, were present for the meeting on Thursday.
Although unable to comment on specifics at this stage, the union's Moray branch secretary Catriona McBain told The Northern Scot that they are "very concerned" about what is being proposed.
Ms McBain said: "EIS-FELA are very concerned as to what is being proposed with the job losses involved.
"At the moment we require much more information for a meaningful process to continue.
"The Scottish Government are managing this decline."
