Melton Vale Post 16 Centre and Belvoir High School staff invited to apply for voluntary redundancy as academy trust faces potential £500,000 deficit by 2018

The Belvoir and Melton Academy Trust, the overarching body of the Belvoir and Melton Academy, has told staff that any requests for voluntary redundancy or voluntary reduction in hours will be considered though it couldn’t guarantee requests would be granted as both schools need to retain key skills.

A statement from the Belvoir and Melton Academy Trust said: “There is a national financial issue facing academies providing 11-19 education. This is partly due to a major reduction in post-16 funding, as well as the impact of increased wages, pension costs and National Insurance contributions.

“The trust has forecast a potential funding shortfall of £500,000 by 2018. This figure has been calculated over time as information has become available. For example, a change in the number of students starting at academies can affect the final amount of the funding received.

“The trust has considered, and continues to investigate, ways of reducing the deficit with as little impact on students and staff as possible.

“Inviting staff to declare an interest in applying for voluntary redundancy is one of the options we have. However, any decisions made will be based on ensuring that we continue to provide first class teaching and learning for our students.

“The deadline for declarations of interest in being considered for voluntary redundancy is not until next month, so it would not be appropriate or timely to comment any further at this stage.”

The Melton Times asked the trust how many staff posts would potentially have to be lost and whether compulsory redundancies would be considered if it didn’t receive enough requests for voluntary redundancy or voluntary reduced hours but the newspaper didn’t get an answer.

A letter to all staff from MV16 head of centre Kirstie Black and Belvoir High School acting head of centre Jane Gant said: “In order to improve our financial situation, the senior leadership teams in both centres have been asked to reduce costs across all budgets to ensure the academy is financially viable in the future. Before we look at reducing staff costs, we’d like to give you the opportunity to notify us if you are interested in applying for voluntary redundancy. As your heads of centre we will meet to consider the requests and inform staff in writing by February 5.”