Guide Dogs has announced that 181 members of staff have left the charity due to redundancies following a restructuring which began in April last year.
The charity, which supports people with sight loss and provides guide dogs, is set to lose around 9% of its 1,894-strong workforce to redundancy.
Its decisions were made as part of the charity’s “change programme”, which involved two phases of collective consultation and aimed to prevent a predicted £20m funding gap by 2026 and to create a more flexible and efficient organisation.
Guide Dogs previously previously announced plans to make 160 redundancies due to rising expenditure, including an 18% rise in staff costs in its previous financial year.
Andrew Lennox, the charity’s CEO, had said at the time that the charity was operating in “an extremely difficult climate” due to its significantly rising costs.
Restructuring changes set to save £20m for charity
The charity, which recorded an income of £145m in 2023, said that its change programme has been “essential to protect our future and ensure we can keep delivering life-changing services for people with sight-loss.”
Guide Dogs said that the changes made as part of the programme are now reportedly on track to are on track to achieve £20m in savings and income generation.
This will include £5m from external cost savings, £10m from reducing staff numbers, and £5m through new income streams.
Guide Dogs said it will now focus on implementing its new 15-year strategy.
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