NCVO is expecting to make around 11 per cent of its staff redundant following its recent merger with Volunteering England.
Employees were told about the impending restructure at a meeting this afternoon. A month-long consultation with staff and Unite the union will now begin to identify the posts to be cut.
A spokesman said the key reason for the restructure is that a number of duplicate roles now exist following the merger between NCVO and Volunteering England at the start of this year.
Also to blame is the reduction in the level of NCVO’s grant from the Office for Civil Society (OCS), which all OCS strategic partner organisations have experienced.
Thirty members of staff have been advised that they are at risk of redundancy. Under the proposals, 17 roles would be open to applications from those affected, meaning that the total headcount would fall from 131 to 114.
Nineteen of the current 131 employees joined NCVO as a result of the recent merger.
Under the new proposals, a new department of volunteering and development would be created. Staff in this department would lead NCVO’s work supporting volunteering and infrastructure – including increased support for Volunteer Centres as well as administering the Big Assist programme. The department will also lead work on the Olympic and Paralympic legacy, on quality standards in volunteering and Volunteers Week, and manage its relationships with volunteering organisations and volunteer managers.
Work on volunteering policy and research would be centralised within the public policy department, of which NCVO’s policy and research teams are currently part.
And there will be new investment in the organisation’s digital capacity to boost online services and information for members.
Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive, said the new structure would “position NCVO to be a strong voice, independent of core government funding”.
He added: “I am very sorry that we will lose some excellent staff members.”
Final decisions on the new structure will be announced in mid-March.
