A teachers’ union has lambasted Perth College bosses for keeping staff “in the dark” over the financial crisis at the institution that led to a shock job cuts announcement this week.
Perth College UHI said on Tuesday an estimated 21 people will be made redundant as the establishment deals with a £600,000 budget shortfall.
EIS-FELA, Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, criticised the college’s handling of the situation and asked why senior management had not budgeted for cost of Living Wage pay rises that have been, in part, blamed for the deficit.
A spokesperson said: “Our members have been working under greater financial restrictions over the previous years doing more for less and fail to see how management have let the organisation reach this crisis situation threatening the livelihoods of the staff.
“Management must have known, for some time, about the precarious financial situation and have only acted at the last minute, keeping staff, students and stakeholders in the dark.
“At two previous joint negotiating committee meetings none of this information has been forthcoming and to be in such a precarious financial position we believe management must have known about this for some time.”
It is the second time this year management has been accused of keeping employees “in the dark” with Roseanna Cunningham MSP also levelling the criticism at college bosses over their decision to close their Perth and Kinross learning centres in Crieff, Kinross and Blairgowrie.
Local politicians Murdo Fraser and Pete Wishart have raised concerns about the financial wellbeing of the college in the wake of the job cuts announcements.
Conservative MSP Mr Fraser said: “Concerns about the financial position at Perth College UHI are not new but these issues are more serious than before.
“There will be an impact, not just on staff but also on students.
“Wider issues about the level of funding for higher and further education in Scotland are well documented.
“The SNP-run Scottish Government must take the share of responsibility for allowing this situation to develop at Perth College UHI.”
SNP MP Pete Wishart called on senior management to provide “a full explanation” of how the college got into such a precarious financial position and how long the board had been aware of it.
Mr Wishart said: “Perth College is one of the Perthshire’s largest employers and we need to be satisfied that this is being addressed as a priority.
“This financial crisis has already led to the closures of the three rural learning centres, depriving communities of this important learning resource.”
College principal, Dr Margaret Cook, said: “While the college has stable recruitment, absorbing the operating costs has become extremely challenging and we need to identify ways of reducing our costs going forward.
“The value of savings required was finally confirmed in September 2019. We are estimating up to 21 redundancies, as we expect to redeploy as many staff within the organisation as possible to minimise the number of compulsory redundancies.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Funding for colleges from the Scottish Government has risen this year.
“Since 2007, we have invested more than £7 billion in Scotland’s colleges, with over £600 million this financial year.”
