FOURTEEN staff members at Weymouth College face being made redundant in a cost-cutting move.

A two-and-a-half-week consultation is being carried out at the college to explore the option of axing 14 staff members, including a team of full and part time ‘learning mentors’ and some administrative workers.

Morale among staff is said to be low with affected staff facing redundancy in early December.

The college, which has 492 workers on its pay roll, says it is facing ‘a challenging public sector economic climate’ and the roles could be provided in an ‘alternative and more effective’ way.

Principal Liz Myles said ‘a significant number’ of staff who are currently at risk of redundancy will be redeployed to other student-facing roles in the college with around 17 or 18 vacancies currently available.

Learning mentors were introduced at the Cranford Avenue college around five years ago.

Their duties include providing support for students, helping them to access learning resources and sorting out timetabling issues.

A college insider said: “The whole learning mentor team is absolutely devastated, as are the students who were told about it on Friday.

“The mentors give support to students who need it throughout the college.

“There has to be a need for this job.”

Ms Myles said she expects any compulsory redundancies to be kept to a ‘low level’.

She added: “While I understand that the period of uncertainty is upsetting for the staff affected, as a result of the college growing rapidly, we anticipate that a significant number of staff who are currently at risk of redundancy will be redeployed to other student-facing roles.”

Vice principal Rob Jones said that despite a ‘challenging backdrop’ the college has invested ‘significantly’ in support for students over the last 18 months.

He added: “Additional learning support in the classroom has been doubled and tutorial time increased by 50 per cent.

“The college is committed to putting its resources where it’s most needed and that is into classrooms and workshops.”

Ms Myles said the work that has taken place at the college in the last two years has proved that the college puts the success of students first.

She said: “The college is proving increasingly popular and increasingly successful.

“Student recruitment is up this year by 20 per cent and success rates now stand at 87 per cent, up with the best further education colleges in the country. “While I understand that the period of uncertainty is upsetting for the staff affected, as a result of the college growing rapidly, we anticipate that a significant number of staff who are currently at risk of redundancy will be redeployed to other student-facing roles.”

NUMBERS HAVE REDUCED

STAFF numbers at the college have been reduced since 2010, when the college employed 650 workers.

Nine people were made redundant in July 2010 after the college received a half-million-pound shortfall in funding from the Learning and Skills Council.

Changes to the senior management team were made in 2011 after a vote of no confidence which was backed by Unison and the University and College Union (UCU).