BRADFORD College is set to axe a number of jobs in order to save more than £1.5 million amid the coronavirus crisis.

The college released an official statement this afternoon and is having to make the redundancy proposals due to a "significant fall in income this year".

It has been unable to secure any provider relief funding to support this drop.

A spokesperson for Bradford College said: "Bradford College can confirm that it has now begun restructuring consultation processes for both the college and its subsidiary company, Training for Bradford.

"These proposals have been developed in order to make essential cost savings and create a sustainable financial platform for the future following the Covid-19 outbreak and the government’s lockdown measures.

"We have had to examine the impact on the college’s current financial situation and our position in the year ahead. 

"Unfortunately, the College has seen a significant fall in income this year and we have been unable to secure any provider relief funding to support the fall. 

"Apprenticeships are particularly hard hit and, like other colleges across the country, we expect a further drop in income for the 20/21 academic year, causing further impact.  

"In addition to mitigating the effects of Covid-19, the proposed restructure ensure that the college continues to meets it financial obligations to lenders and ensures we do not risk breaching our banking covenants following last year’s financial restructuring.

"In line with the restructuring fund plan targets we formulating plans to reduce the number of subsidiary companies.

"This will mean over the course of the next academic year will look to close City Training Services and Beacon Recruitment and move those operations into the college.

"We have identified that we need to save over £1.5m through staff reductions and are consulting with trade unions and employee representatives regarding the proposals.

"Consultation meetings are also being held with staff and we are committed to keeping everyone informed at every stage of the process. 

"We are deeply saddened to be in this position, especially after the exceptional efforts by all our staff who went above and beyond expectations to ensure learning continued online and students remained supported.

"However, a restructure is necessary to keep it financially sustainable and allow us to continue to offer educational opportunities for the communities of Bradford and transform students’ lives.  

"It is hoped that a large number of staffing cuts will be made through voluntary redundancies and that compulsory redundancies are kept to a minimum.

"The proposals also allow for a number of vacancies, for which recruitment was temporarily frozen at the start of the Covid 19 crisis, to be approved for recruitment in the next academic year, minimising the impact on redundancies."