Welcome to our virtual tea party to celebrate the
125th anniversary of the National Trust. We have a special message of thanks
from our Director-General, Hilary McGrady and our president His Royal Highness,
The Prince of Wales, so why not settle down with a cup of tea and even a slice
of cake whilst you watch.
National Trust to make 1,200 staff redundant
Charity lost almost £200m after coronavirus lockdown
shut its houses, gardens, car parks, shops and cafes
Chiara
Giordano
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The
National Trust is planning to make 1,200 staff redundant as it looks to save
£100m in the wake of coronavirus.
The
conservation and heritage charity, which has 5.6 million members, said it had
lost almost £200m as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, which forced the closure
of all of its houses, gardens, car parks, shops and cafes, and put a stop to
holidays and events.
The trust
said it had already saved millions of pounds through furloughing staff, drawing
on reserves, borrowing and stopping or deferring projects, but still needs to
make savings to keep it sustainable in the long term.
It has
proposed £100m in annual savings, equivalent to almost a fifth of its yearly
expenditure, through changes to operations and cuts to staff and budgets.
Director
general Hilary McGrady said the organisation would continue to care for
historic sites, and tackle climate change, loss of wildlife and unequal access
to nature, beauty and history.
A quarter
of furloughed workers could be made redundant in September
Some 1,200
salaried staff face redundancy as part of £60m proposed pay savings – about 13
per cent of the 9,500-strong salaried workforce.
The move,
which comes after a decade which saw the National Trust nearly double in size,
would bring staffing levels back to what they were in 2016.
The plans
also include £8.8m savings by cutting the budget for hourly paid staff such as
seasonal workers by a third.
The
remaining £40m of savings will be made in areas such as travel, office costs
and IT spending, through reductions in marketing and print spending in favour
of digital communications, and by renegotiating contracts.
The trust
has already announced it is stopping or deferring £124m of projects this year.
The charity
said it is refocusing its efforts to protect cultural heritage, with limited
cuts to staff caring for houses, gardens and collections.
There will
be a shift from a “one-size-fits-all” approach to properties, with reviewed
opening hours at some places and in some cases running a pre-booked guided tour
system for visits.
The trust said
it would continue its ambition, announced in January, to step up action against
climate change, cutting emissions to net zero by 2030, planting millions trees
and creating green corridors for people and nature.
It plans to
restart the strategy in March next year, but Ms McGrady said the organisation
would have to be “flexible” in achieving it.
She said: “We are going through one of the biggest
crises in living memory.
“All
aspects of our home, work and school lives and our finances and communities
have been affected, and like so many other organisations the National Trust has
been hit very hard.
“The places
and things the National Trust cares for are needed now more than ever, as the
nation needs to recuperate and recover its spirit and wellbeing.
“It is
deeply upsetting to face losing colleagues and we are committed to supporting
all of those affected. Sadly, we have no other course of action left open.”
Mike
Clancy, general secretary of Prospect, the union for National Trust workers,
said the priority was minimising the number of redundancies, maximising
voluntary redundancy and getting as good a deal as possible for those who lose
their jobs.
He warned:
“At the moment there are no plans for National Trust to close whole properties,
but they are shutting ‘unprofitable’ shops and cafes and the worry is that it’s
only a matter of time.
“Once jobs
are lost and assets are closed it is very hard to recover them.
“Access to
our cultural heritage should be an essential part of society’s recovery from the
pandemic, and the government should be doing everything it can to protect it.”
He said
Prospect would be pushing ministers to ensure the rescue package announced for
arts, culture and heritage get to where it is needed in a timely manner.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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