One in ten staff jobs are set to be impacted by a restructure at St John Ambulance, the charity has warned.

The move is part of a transformation programme at the charity, which earlier this year admitted it ended 2022 “with a challenging financial situation”.

The restructure is set to see around 10% of its 1,700 staff team impacted.

“We are doing everything we can to support colleagues at this unsettling time and we are engaging widely with them to inform our approach and help shape the future of the charity,” said a St John Ambulance spokesperson.

“Our total employee population is around 1,700 and we anticipate change will impact around 10% of employees. Through people moving on in the normal course of their career, those seeking voluntary release and retraining people, we hope that our transformation programme will negatively impact as few people as possible.

As well as reducing staffing numbers the charity is looking to find more efficient ways of working to further cut costs.

“We will also continue to take wider mitigating measures to help us reduce costs – through ways of working, reducing waste and considering changes to help us become more efficient in the long term,” added the spokesperson.

“We have started to engage with staff, and we anticipate that the majority of our transformation programme will progress before the end of the year to support our refreshed focus on community first aid in the new year.”

Its latest annual report was released earlier this year and admitted that “as we head into 2023, we face uncertain external headwinds, including high inflation and cost of living impacting cost base and income”.

It added: “Whilst there is continued concern regarding the current economic and political outlook, we will continue to manage and streamline our costs this year, reviewing our business models to seek opportunities for further improvement.”

The charity’s annual report also revealed it had lost almost 4,000 volunteers over the last year, admitting that “some of our basic processes, for example recruitment, can still be and feel incredibly clunky”.

In June figures revealed by think tank Pro Bono Economics and Nottingham Trent University’s National VCSE Data and Insights Observatory found that two in five charities are “unable to meet their objectives” over the coming year due to a lack of volunteers.

Almost three in five charities surveyed said volunteer recruitment over the last year had been difficult.

Share Story: