Reducing staffing levels by around a third has been identified as one of several cost saving measures that the Trust could enact to mitigate the losses incurred due to Covid-19 lockdown and a subsequent lull in visitor numbers.
Lowering its spend on marketing, new exhibitions, travel, IT, printing, along with introducing new processes to improve the efficiency, are all now also under consideration.
The organisation’s staff, of which 85% have been furloughed, were notified of potential redundancies on Friday, ahead of a consultation period that began in earnest this week.
“It with deep regret that I am informing you today that the Trust needs to cut jobs. We have built a very successful heritage attraction and museum at Bletchley Park and its principal strength is its people,” Bletchley Park CEO Iain Standen told staff.
“However, the economic impact of the current crisis is having a profound effect on the Trust’s ability to survive. We have exhausted all other avenues, and we need to act now to ensure that the Trust survives and is sustainable in the future.”
Having closed to the public on 19th March, the home of the World War Two Codebreakers reopened on 4th July but with a limited capacity.
Standen concluded his communique to Bletchley Park staff by noting that despite having “built a brilliant team on the back of huge success and with great ambitions for the future”, the Trust has been left with “no other choice” to secure the organisation’s future.
