As many as 35 jobs are 'at risk' at Bletchley Park as the trust who own the site announce details of a proposed restructure to cope with the impact of coronavirus.
Between March and July this year, Bletchley Park Trust saw over 95% of its income disappear leaving it with a large gap in its annual budget.
The Trust say they expect to lose around £2m this year due to the pandemic and are proposing to restructure to reduce its annual spend and the size of its team.
Up to 35 redundancies could be included in the plan, which would be around a third of the workforce at the site.
Staff were told the news today with a consultation period set to commence next week.
Bletchley Park CEO Iain Standen told staff: “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."
"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.”
“I cannot stress how deeply saddened I am to announce the need for such a severe restructuring. We have built a brilliant team on the back of huge success and with great ambitions for the future, which we will now need to re-examine."
"I had hoped that we might avoid the need to do this, but we find ourselves with no other choice if we are to secure the future of the Bletchley Park Trust.”
The Trust furloughed 85% of its staff during lockdown and managed to secure some additional funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Savings have also been identified within the Trust’s annual budget which include reducing costs in marketing, new exhibitions, travel, IT, printing and introducing new processes to improve the efficiency of the organisation.
However, they have warned that whilst these will help reduce the financial impact in the short-term, they alone are not enough.
The medium to long term implications of social distancing and living with the consequent lower visitor numbers, has meant the need for a "radical review of the Trust’s organisation, spending and priorities".
