Eating disorder charity Beat has terminated nine workers’ employment four months into a 12-month contract after a drop in NHS funding.
Beat recruited nine people as part-time, home-based programme officers in May who then began their employment at the charity last month, a source told Civil Society.
But the nine staff members’ contracts were terminated earlier this month after four weeks, within their probationary period, with one weeks’ notice.
According to documents seen by Civil Society, Beat told the staff that a drop in income from the NHS had contributed to the decision to cut short their employment.
Beat’s chief executive, Andrew Radford confirmed to Civil Society: “In some areas of England the NHS have not referred into our services at the level expected, leading to a drop in funding and workload.”
Radford added that terminating the contracts had been a “very difficult and sad decision and one we only made once we had exhausted every other option”.
Roles terminated after weeks of training
The nine staff were due to be paid an £18,343 salary for the 25 hours per week roles, offering support to people experiencing disordered eating and their loved ones through telephone, video chat and online communication channels, according to an advert for the positions.
It states that the support programmes team at the charity had grown significantly over the past 12 months due to increased demand.
However, the roles were terminated after a few weeks of the staff undergoing paid training at the charity.
A source said they were concerned by the charity’s decision to cut the roles and a lack of support offered to the staff following the decision.
“For a mental health charity which is proud of having staff with lived experience of mental health conditions, they were not offered any support at the point of terminating their contracts,” they said.
“All they were sent were repeated requests to return their IT hardware and a suggestion they might like to volunteer.”
Beat: ‘No choice but to end the contracts’
Radford said: “The economic climate has meant that it has been an incredibly challenging year for Beat and the charity sector as a whole.
“Recently, several funding partners have not referred into our services at the level expected, leading to a drop in funding and workload.
“This has meant that we had no choice but to end the contracts of nine colleagues who had been employed to carry out this work. This was a very difficult and sad decision and one we only made once we had exhausted every other option.
“While some of the individuals concerned have proactively expressed interest in volunteering for Beat, no-one has been asked to volunteer.
“We informed those involved as soon as possible and they were given notice in line with their contracts. Nobody was required to work during their notice period, and management support has been offered to all concerned.”
