12 jobs at risk in £1.4m Dudley College cuts
More jobs could go at Dudley College, with a dozen full-time staff at risk.
More redundancies are expected to follow in the wake of £1.4 million government cuts to its adult learning budget.
Twelve management, teaching and support roles are at risk, while 39 posts will be reduced from full time to term time.
The cuts mean there will be around 1,000 fewer places available for adult learners at the college from September.
College bosses have warned that more redundancies are likely over the next two years unless the financial climate improves.
A total of 22 posts have already gone since the college launched its targeted redundancy programme in April, which followed the removal of funding from the Government's Skills Funding Agency.
Health and social care courses as well as early years training delivered in nurseries and care homes are among the courses affected by the move.
It has been announced today that 12 staff could lose their jobs. An additional seven workers that were originally earmarked for redundancy have been found alternative positions within the college.
The reduction in posts from full time to term time is expected to hit staff hard. It means they will lose up to 30 per cent of their wages over the course of a year.
College principal Lowell Williams, said: "We are desperately disappointed to be forced into this position.
"The college is a high performing, extremely efficient organisation, but we cannot sustain the current workforce in this climate of austerity, where wave after wave of budget reductions are being imposed on our adult learning provision.
"Regrettably, if the Government continues making further cuts, we'll be faced with more difficult decisions and the possibility of more redundancies over the next two years.
"This would put at risk further expert tutors and other college staff who are so vital to improving the skills of adults and young people."
The cuts are set to come into being in August. College bosses say that despite the cuts the college's financial health remains 'strong' following the multi-million pound investment in Dudley's Learning Quarter.
