REDUNDANCIES are expected at York College.

One worker, who asked not to be named, said the changes could see more than half of the sports and public services departments made redundant, and "experienced teachers being partly replaced by sports coaches".

He said: "These major changes are being driven by an agenda of cost-cutting and are likely to impact on the college's vocational education, higher education, public services, sports science and sports coaching academic programmes.

"Staff have been warned that they can not disclose any of these proposals to students or parents, meaning that the public are signing up to courses without transparency. Some parents have already gotten wind of these proposals and contacted the college to voice concerns. However, because the college are forbidding staff to discuss things, there is no transparency in the responses to parents. This is all very concerning for staff who are at risk of redundancy, but also for students who are at risk of receiving a sub-quality education from September onwards."

Another former worker, who also asked not to be named, told The Press a number of teams were "going through 'streamlining' and will be doing dual roles for the same amount of money".

He said: "What they are trying to do is get one person to do two different roles, which doesn't work.

"You wouldn't have enough time to complete your duties to the high standard the college expects. Obviously, staff at the moment feel quite low morale because of it and a lot don't know exactly what is going on yet, but within a couple of months there will be a lot of changes."

A spokeswoman for York College refused to confirm how many jobs were at risk or in which department, but confirmed one area of the college was considered "overstaffed".

She said: "‘Each year the College reviews recruitment and other information as we plan the curriculum portfolio for the following academic year, and each year small changes are made in terms of increasing or reducing the staffing needed for the numbers of students likely to be recruited.

"Although applications for 2018/19 entry to York College are very healthy, there is one area of the college which is overstaffed and also will have some changes to the range of curriculum on offer. As a consequence, a very small number of redundancies are possible. We are in the middle of the consultation period and no decisions have been made."

The college spokeswoman also said: "We also wish to avoid compulsory redundancies if at all possible. We have looked very carefully at the impact of this on students and are confident that this will not have a negative impact on the curriculum offer or the learning experience of our students."

Staff affected by the changes are understood to be going through 30 days consultation, and UNISON and the UCU are understood to be involved, but neither had responded to enquiries at time of going to print.