College compulsory job cut threat

Stoke-on-Trent College technology centre

The college has hired about 50 extra staff for its new technology centre

The principal of a Staffordshire College has said 51 posts are at risk including some compulsory redundancies.

Graham Moore, principal of Stoke-on-Trent College, said he expected his budget to be cut by £1m next year owing to a "change in government priorities".

He said government funding for business courses and back-to-work schemes had risen but it meant less money for other areas like foreign language courses.

He said he had to lose some staff because of the mis-match in skills.

However, college staffing levels would remain "broadly similar" overall, he added.

Skills gap

The college employs about 1,300 staff in total, of which about 50 have been taken on since January to meet the growing demand for business courses and back-to-work schemes for the unemployed.

To fill the budget funding gap Mr Moore said he expected to lose jobs from the foreign languages department and the college creche.

He said because Stoke-on-Trent City Council now offered a creche there was less need for the college to make its own child care provisions and up to 20 jobs are directly linked to the college creche.

Mr Moore said: "Obviously redundancies are a last resort, the trouble is the skills don't mesh for our growth areas and the posts we need to lose."

Staff were informed of the redundancy proposal on Wednesday and have entered a 30-day consultation period.