Horse charity to cut jobs to reduce costs

Bransby Horses, which was founded in 1968, houses 300 rescued horses, ponies, donkeys and mules

Bransby Horses, one of the UK’s largest equine charities, has announced plans to reduce its workforce due to financial challenges.

The charity said their costs had increased by 50% since 2018.

A spokesperson said 17 jobs were at risk of redundancy, out of a team of 170.

The charity said it would also have to reduce the number of horses it can care for from around 300 at present to 250.

The announcement came after the organisation was forecast a deficit of £2.5m for this year.

The charity's chief executive Jo Snell said rises in food and energy prices and increases in the minimum wage had had an impact on their running costs.

The charity said that they relied on income from donations, which had remained static over the past five years.

Ms Snell said: “Sadly, we are having to look at some potential redundancies, but what we are doing is we are working with the team very closely to make sure that we can either move them to other vacant roles, if there are any within the charity or find alternative work."

The charity had previously said that they lost about £300,000 of revenue during the pandemic and were impacted by flooding in 2019 and 2023.

Ms Snell said that it was important that decisions were taken now, so that the charity could continue its work in the future.

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