Oxfam GB has announced that 265 jobs at the charity are at risk of redundancy as part of its efforts to save £10.2m in salary costs.
The international development charity, which has implemented a hiring freeze on non-business-critical roles since July 2024, predicts that its wage bill will rise from £69.6m in the current financial year to £78.2m in 2025-26 as costs continue to outpace income.
It predicts that an unrestricted deficit of £12.7m which it reported last year, will have grown to £16.5m by the end of 2024-25.
The charity will now enter a consultation process with its staff and trade union representatives regarding the 265 jobs at risk of redundancy.
It plans to make further savings from efficiencies in other expenditures, with programme funding being protected as far as possible.
Income and spending pressures
Oxfam GB said in a statement that its decision came after seeing its retail and fundraising income impacted by the state of the economy as well as facing multi-year inflationary increases on its operational costs including wages and utilities.
The charity said that increased national insurance contributions this year and impending cuts to UK and international aid budgets represented a further risk.
It said the redundancies came as part of a process intended to strengthen the organisation’s financial position, while continuing to support many of the most vulnerable communities around the world.
In 2023-24, Oxfam GB reported an income of £368m, with spending on its humanitarian and development work increasing to £272m from £253m the previous year, of which the UK wage bill accounted for just under 20%.
Related articles
