The National Trust is to cut at least 550 jobs in efforts to save £26m after changes made in Rachel Reeves’s debut budget pushed up labour costs.
The conservation charity, which looks after 500 historic houses, castles, parks and gardens, said a rise of more than £10m in the cost of employer’s national insurance and the minimum wage in April had outstripped an increase in income from visitors.
“Although demand and support for our work are growing with yearly increases in visitors and donations; increasing costs are outstripping this growth,” the group said in a statement.
The cuts will affect 6% of its 11,000-strong workforce, the equivalent of 550 full-time jobs. Staff were informed of the cuts in an online briefing on Thursday, as a 45-day consultation began.
The cuts will affect frontline roles including staff working in cafes and shops, as well as conservation assistants, who carry out preservation work in historic buildings.
The National Trust, which also looks after 780 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of land, said the cuts were “prioritising the things people told us are important” while “protecting the things people value most about what we do now”.
It said the proposed changes “will allow us to keep on caring for and championing our shared historic and natural environment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, long into the future”.
One member of staff said: “This is going to have an impact on frontline quality at a time when the trust is struggling with its image and relevance in society.
“How is this not going to lead to an effect on the ‘important work’ that our members support?”
The National Trust said it would work with the Prospect union to “make the transition as painless as possible”.
Steve Thomas, a deputy general secretary of Prospect, said the cuts “will cause huge uncertainty and worry for staff” over the busy summer months.
He added: “We understand the cost pressures the trust is facing but management decisions, as well as external factors, have contributed to the financial situation and once again it is our members who will have to pay the price.
“Our members are custodians of the country’s cultural, historic and natural heritage – cuts of this scale risk losing institutional knowledge and skills which are vital to that mission.”
The group froze recruitment for all but essential roles in March after the government’s changes to employers’ national insurance contributions and an increase in the legal minimum wage, which came into force in April.
The battles with costs come after a tough few years for the charity, which found itself in the midst of a culture war over its perceived “wokeness” with threats of interference by the Conservative government.
The National Trust’s latest cost cuts emerged after the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions warned this year that it expected members to cut jobs and reduce investment as they battled higher employment costs introduced by the government.
It said attractions were also facing “more tactical” activity by domestic visitors – visiting attractions less often and spending less money while there – as they faced higher energy bills and food.
The Tate, which has four art galleries across London, Liverpool and Cornwall, this year announced plans to cut 7% of its workforce because of a funding deficit left over from the coronavirus pandemic.
English Heritage is also making up to 200 redundancies and the winter closure of various castles, abbeys and other historic sites in its care.
