K College protest: Hundreds of staff on strike in Tonbridge over planned job cuts

Hundreds of K College staff protested outside its Tonbridge HQ this afternoon to try and persuade governors not to go ahead with planned mass redundancies.

Around 250 staff, who had walked out as part of a half-day strike, stood at its Brook Street entrance waving placards and chanting 'Save Our College'.

Cheers went up each time cars driving past beeped in solidarity with the strikers.

The official strike started at 1pm, with hundreds of students told in the morning that their lecturers would not be there to teach them.

A small group of Tonbridge-based staff gathered outside the building at that time, and were then joined by two bus-loads of staff from its campuses in Ashford, Folkestone and Dover at 2pm.

A series of rallying speeches followed, before the group moved back onto campus to welcome the governors - who will debate the plans at a meeting later this afternoon.

K college was formed by the merger two years ago of West Kent and South Kent colleges and has sites in Tonbridge, Tunbridge Wells, Ashford, Folkestone and Dover.

The college has already confirmed 145 jobs will be lost - in addition to 50 earlier this year - as it looks to balance its books.

But the job cuts were only agreed when governors were made apparent of a £7m shortfall earlier this year. 

When the final figures for the financial year to July came through they stood at at least £11m. With additional one-off costs, it soars as high as £16m.

And that has prompted fears more jobs could be lost - with unions suggesting the number of redundancies could yet be doubled.

The University and College Union (UCU) balloted its members at the end of last month. They voted overwhelmingly in favour of the strike action.

The college last week confirmed it intended to sell its Folkestone campus, and has already agreed a deal to sell its Ashford site to housing developers.

The college said it intends to be open to students as normal despite the industrial action.

A spokesman said: "Where a class tutor is on strike, students have been advised to follow normal processes for self-study via the Virtual Learning Environment. The Learning Resource Centres will remain open on every campus to facilitate this. Students will be able to choose to work from home or in any area of the college.

"K College announced a restructure in the summer with possibly 145 posts to be made redundant. So far, a significant amount of staff savings have been made without the need for compulsory redundancies. Staff costs are 86 per cent of the college budget.

"Senior managers and the board of governors of K College meet on Monday to agree a development plan that will address the budget deficit issues. The college's recovery plan aims to return to a balanced budget within two years.

"K College's underlying deficit is £11 million –with exceptional costs from last year, it is £16 million but this includes one-off costs such as those incurred in the provisional development of two multi-million pound projects - the new Ashford campus at Elwick Road, and the new technology centre at Brook Street in Tonbridge which are postponed, not cancelled.

"K College's campus in Folkestone is likely to be sold as it has been running at a substantial loss for some time and the college will run courses from other locations in the town next year. K College will continue to offer high quality further education in the Shepway area, some of which may be with partners including schools, colleges, universities and employers.

"There is no need for a 'Save K College' campaign as the College's strategic priority is to improve further and higher education in the communities it serves. This does not require each town to have an expensive campus with high overheads in the traditional ways of the past. Maintaining old buildings has been a major problem for K College, as it was pre merger in the South and West Kent colleges. The campaign leader has a particular interest in the Folkestone campus.

"Improved accommodation is still a priority for Ashford, and a new campus remains an ambition in the long term. Enrolments at the Dover campus have risen significantly this year including a new A level programme, and success rates have improved again last year."

But UCU regional support official, Adam Lincoln, said: "The college simply has not made the case for yet another job-axing restructure. There needs to be an immediate halt on any major decisions that affect courses, premises, and jobs until there has been a full and transparent assessment of the current state of the college.

"We cannot have potentially irreversible decisions taken without the full facts. Student numbers, retention rates and success are all on the up and staff costs are less than average; there is no economic or educational case for further cuts.

"Strike action is always a last resort, but staff at K College know they have to stand up for their institution before it's too late. Hopefully today's action will ensure the governors do not rubberstamp these dangerous plans."