Covid in Scotland: Glasgow Life to cut 500 jobs due to venue closures

The Riverside Museum is run by Glasgow Life

About 500 jobs are to go at the organisation which runs libraries, museums and sports centres for Glasgow City Council.

The Glasgow Life charity said it had lost £38m due to the closure of dozens of venues during the pandemic.

Many of the facilities have been shut since last March and will not reopen before the end of this year.

Glasgow Life said the job cuts would be made "over time" and would not involve compulsory redundancies.

Instead, the not-for-profit organisation said it would target early retirement packages and voluntary redundancies.

The attractions run by Glasgow Life for the council include Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, the People's Palace, Riverside Museum and the Mitchell Library.

Eighty of its 171 venues across the city remain shut.

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A spokesperson for the charity said: "This cost-saving strategy is a vital part of the process of recovery Glasgow Life has been forced to undertake by the global pandemic."

The statement said the recovery package was being supported by Glasgow City Council through its £100m funding guarantee for the next five years.

However, it said it was "unrealistic to expect that it can raise significant additional income this year that will support the reopening of venues beyond the 91 already announced".

"Glasgow Life will be a very different organisation at the end of this period," the spokesperson added.

"We are asking staff for flexibility during this process and are regularly updating them through internal communications and briefings from their managers; and unions are also regularly updated."

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is one of Scotland's most popular visitor attractions

After Glasgow City Council set its budget in March, a spokesman for the GMB union said a decision to cut £5m from the fee paid to Glasgow Life would "put local services and livelihoods under even greater pressure".

The charity has been able to furlough some staff, whose pay is linked to its own income, not the council's service fee.

At the end of November 2020, the charity had claimed £6.7m and 751 people remained on the scheme.

Glasgow Life is an "arms-length" charitable trust which was established by Glasgow City Council more than a decade ago.

The trust took over the council's galleries, museums, libraries and sports facilities with the idea there would be more opportunities to generate commercial income outside direct council control.