160 jobs at risk at Guide Dogs due to £20m funding gap

Guide Dogs estimates around 160 redundances will need to be made as the charity looks to tackle a funding gap of £20m over the next two years.

The job losses represent between 8% and 9% of its workforce and are dependent on the outcome of a consultation process.

The move comes as the charity tackles increasing costs and stagnating fundraising income that will result in a £20m gap by 2026.

“Like many other charities across the UK, we are operating in an extremely difficult climate with a high demand for our services,” said Guide Dogs chief executive Andrew Lennox.

“Our fixed costs have increased considerably over the past few years and our fundraising income has plateaued due to the external economic challenges.

He added: “We are delivering a change programme to address these pressures. If we don’t make changes, by 2026 there will be a gap of £20 million between how much income we receive and how much we spend to deliver our services. Our plans will close this gap.

“Reducing the wait for a guide dog will continue to be an organisational priority, along with increasing the number of partnerships we produce.

“Our change programme will enable us to increase our income, make cost savings and ensure we’re structured to be able to support and deliver exceptional outcomes for those living with sight loss for the next 90 years and beyond.”

In addition, the charity has announced the closure of its My Sighted Guide service, which trains volunteers to support people with sight loss when they travel.

“As we look to the future, we have found it increasingly difficult to deliver the service in a fair and consistent way, and to establish and support new partnerships,” said the charity.

“This therefore means we have made the difficult decision to close our My Sighted Guide service by the end of the year."

Instead, it is to refocus the service on encouraging sighted guiding to be as familiar as First Aid is in society. This will see it concentrate on training family and friends of those with sight loss, among companies as well as the wider community.