Worcestershire school jobs at risk after firm moves in

Worcestershire County Council commissioned The Babcock Group to deliver learning and achievement services

More than 100 jobs in education services in Worcestershire are under threat, weeks after a council handed its contracts to a private company.

The Babcock Group took over the county council's Learning and Achievement services at the beginning of the month in a £38m, five-year deal.

It is now planning to cut up to 104 jobs - 31 are special educational needs teaching assistant posts.

The council said Babcock was "able to do more with the budget and resources".

Staff in the department, responsible for areas including admissions and supporting pupils with special educational needs, were told their jobs were at risk on Thursday.

The Labour leader on the council Peter McDonald said he was outraged about the cuts.

'Extra support'

He said: "Let's not not forget these organisations never put an input into these services. The services were ready and made for them to take off the shelf to make a profit. They're nothing more than profiteers."

Mary Dhonau from Worcester, who has a severely autistic son, said: "Special needs children do need extra care, extra support, extra attention and it can take the attention away from the children that don't have special needs if you don't have somebody specially designated to help support the child with those needs."

John Campion, the council's cabinet member for children and families, said: "We have commissioned Babcock to deliver learning and achievement services on behalf of [the council].

"This has been done to reflect the changing relationships between schools and the local authority as well as to make the necessary financial savings.

"By commissioning this service, Babcock are able to do more with the budget and resources available to them than would have been possible if the service remained in house.

"We are focused on the outcomes we have agreed with Babcock to get the best results for our children and young people."

He said the decision to cut jobs was made by Babcock and not the council.

In a statement, Babcock said it was committed to continuing to deliver educational services and wanted to reassure people the quality would remain unaffected.

A consultation process with the council and staff would now look at all options around how they do that, it said.