Valldata Services has confirmed it is making “a small number” of redundancies after investing in new technology which means that fewer staff are required for “manual processing”. 

A spokesman from the company - which provides payment processing and data services for the voluntary sector - confirmed to Civil Society News that the organisation would be making “a small number” of redundancies and that it had begun “a consultation process” with those likely to be affected.

The spokesman for the organisation said that the redundancies were part of Valldata “streamlining its business model” after investing in new technologies.

The spokesman said that while a consultation is ongoing he could not confirm “how many roles will eventually be affected, but it likely to be a relatively small number” and said that Valldata is “trying to minimise the number affected”.

Its latest set of accounts for the year ending 31 March 2015 showed that Valldata Services Ltd had an 7.4 per cent increase in overall turnover to £8.4m. Much of this was off-set however by administrative expenses and “exceptional items” which accounted for spending over £5.4m.

The accounts also show that Valldata Services Ltd employed 118 people in the last financial year, an increase of six on the year before.

While the accounts don’t specifically define what the “exceptional items” are, the accounts also point to Valldata having “made significant investment in technology, management, processes and extra delivery and support resources”.

Valldata’s comment

“Valldata has invested heavily in new payment processing and digital technologies to streamline the direct mail and campaign fulfilment services that we provide to our clients.

"This investment (backed by our long-term investors Livingbridge) has been highly successful and is enabling us to handle larger volume charity campaigns. We now have the capability to process more than 150,000 mail items every day and in excess of £180m in donations a year for our charity clients.  

“While this investment in technology has allowed us to improve our service to our clients, and handle a significant uplift in campaigns and donations during peak season 2015, it has also meant that we need less people undertaking manual processing.

“As a result Valldata has started a consultation process with a small number of staff which could lead to some roles being made redundant. We are working with our staff at this difficult time and will provide every support to anyone whose role is affected.”