MORE than 30 staff at Mid Cheshire College and Warrington Collegiate are at risk of being made redundant as part of the merger, it has been confirmed.

Last week, the Guardian reported that some Mid Cheshire College courses were set to move from the Winsford and Hartford campuses to Warrington Collegiate as part of the merger.

The Union for Colleges and Universities has confirmed it is in talks with the college after it announced there would be staff redundancies as courses offered in both colleges will only be provided in one, as of September.

Staff have been offered voluntary severance at this stage, the UCU confirmed.

Roger Grigg, from the UCU, has been in discussions with college staff and the college.

He said: “There is potential redundancies at both Mid Cheshire and Warrington in connection with the merger but also the general position in further education.

“Most FE colleges are in a difficult financial position because the funding in the past 10 years has been falling and falling.

“What you have here is the added position of the merger, and courses that are provided in both places will just be provided in one.

“We do know they want to move the hair and beauty course to Warrington and there are others.

“At this stage we’re in collective consultation, because there are more than 30 people who potentially face redundancy. That process is ongoing and we’re talking to the college about the proposals looking at how we can reduce the number of redundancies.”

Mid Cheshire College said it could not make any comment at this time, but last week confirmed that courses could be moved to Warrington.

Roger added that the union sees the merger as a ‘big mistake’.

“The Government has said that for a college to be sustainable, it needs to have an average class size of 16, therefore the college is looking to merge,” Roger said.

“We think that’s a big mistake. The Winsford site has great facilities and great connections with local employers, so they should be utilising that and sending these students elsewhere is a big mistake. We believe it is a leap of faith on the part of the new college administration in regards to thinking that the students will follow. It’s not evidence-based, it’s a pure leap of faith.”