A round of redundancies could be on the cards at the Beamish Museum in the coming financial year
Staff at The Beamish Museum in County Durham could face redundancy in a major staff restructure planned by bosses at the award-winning centre.
As many as 13 of the permanent workers at the open-air site could potentially lose their jobs as part of an overhaul outlined by senior management last month, a source close to the museum told Culture24.
“All I know so far is that the new Director has drafted a business plan and staff structure which goes before the governing body on March the 13th,” said the source.
A business plan circulated three months ago alerted staff to the potential threat, and around 90 permanent workers were informed of the proposed cuts in a meeting last month.
Representatives from Sunderland City Council and public sector Trade Union Unison are now believed to be thrashing out legal agreements for revised posts and payscales.
“The business plan went around to people with company email at the end of November 2008, but didn't mention any jobs or cuts, just the need to cut expenditure and get more visitors through the door,” added the source, who expects “pretty comprehensive” redundancies.
“Departments are definitely being reshuffled – reformed would be a more accurate description, and a couple of old departmental senior managers will be laid off, potentially including the heads of curatorial, plus the usual cull of admin staff and fixed-term workers,” they said.
“I think there have been other departmental and union meetings since, so all the permanent staff know, but the seasonal staff, a lot of whom return year after year, might not.”
Richard Evans, who was appointed as Director responsible for the £3 million budget of the 300-acre grounds in July, said the proposed changes would help ensure the museum “continues to develop successfully in the future.”
“The museum relies on income from around 300,000 visitors every year,” he responded. “The museum faces some difficult financial pressures at the moment following on from two wet summers and a decline in visitor numbers. The new plan aims to improve the Beamish experience and attract more people throughout the year.
“Regrettably, as a result of these changes we are having to consider making a number of redundancies at the museum. Every effort will be made to support staff and keep the number of redundancies to an absolute minimum."
