Income expected to drop by £16m
Scottish jobs are at risk after a leading charity announced redundancies after a forecasted £16m income drop.
Breast Cancer Now is looking to shed approximately 60 staff across the UK, with job loses shed across its offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sheffield and its London head office.
The charity ― which funds a third of all breast cancer research in the UK and provides award-winning information and support services ― called for further financial support for the sector as it said its best estimate was it would face around a £16m income drop over the next year – a 34% reduction due to the pandemic.
As well as job losses, the charity said it had been forced to take the difficult decision to cancel its next two research grant funding rounds and this would potentially see the charity spend at least £2 million less on research in 2020-21.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, its chief executive, announced the charity had launched a consultation with all employees regarding changes to the organisation, and that it was expecting to make around 60 redundancies across the charity by 31 July.
It will hold both collective consultation and individual consultation processes to ensure that employees are fully informed about and consulted on the proposed changes and their impacts.
The organisation began the collective consultation process with staff on 8 June 2020.
In an email sent by Morgan to all staff and seen by TFN, she said: “Breast Cancer Now is facing huge challenges and financial pressures, which means we need to plan to adjust to the ‘new’ world we find ourselves in. So we can continue to support people today and still provide that hope for the future that so many people affected by breast cancer rely on us for.
“The charity will come out of the other side of this unprecedented situation – but over the coming weeks we will need to make some difficult, but essential decisions.
“Regrettably, Breast Cancer Now is proposing to make approximately 60 redundancies – covering all directorates and at all levels – by 31 July 2020.
“I recognise this news will feel sudden and drastic. As an organisation, we wish it wasn’t necessary, but we cannot stress enough how essential this is to ensure we can create a future where everyone who develops breast cancer lives – and is supported to live well.”
The charity has seen the enforced closure of its research sites during the pandemic, including the Breast Cancer Now Toby Robins Research Centre, its Research Unit focused on triple-negative breast cancer, and long-term projects the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank and the Breast Cancer Now Generations Study.
The charity employs around 300 staff.
