AN institution created for and dedicated to helping businesses reduce unemployment is about to add to the 'dole queue'.

South and East Cheshire Training and Enterprise Council projects a loss of £1.065m in this financial year and this will lead to cutbacks in vital training for the unemployed and businesses in this area.

Chief Executive Liz Davis and the TEC board have ordered "a reduction in operating costs of around £2.5m over the next eighteen months." This is expected to be achieved through budget cutbacks and job losses.

The evidence is contained in a leaked, confidential, internal e-mail and document issued to TEC staff entitled "Business planning for 1999/2000 and beyond." It calls for budget cuts of almost twenty percent and paints a bleak picture for the unemployed in this area.

The document also states that, the Government cut the TEC's contract by £1.8m for 1998/99 and further cuts are predicted into and beyond the millennium. One of the key areas expected to be hit by the cuts are, work based training schemes for the young and adult unemployed.

Until now, surplus money gained from running government training contracts has been invested in, "local business services, education initiatives and borough based partnership activities." These initiatives aimed at helping people most in need, are all threatened with the axe.

In the document, Liz Davis highlights the seriousness of the TEC's position by stating, action is required, "to reduce expenditure by around £2.5m," over the next eighteen months, "to ensure the longer-term viability of the TEC." She goes on to call for the TEC to, "reduce premises and support costs."

Job losses are anticipated to hit all levels with some directors and middle management facing redundancy.

Consultations with the Staff Committee are set to begin next month, with management seeking agreement on ways to cut staff at other levels. Self employed staff and those on fixed term contracts are highlighted in the document and are clearly high on the hit list.

According to the document currently-running programmes in conjunction with the TEC on subcontracts are also lined up for cuts, almost certainly leading to further job losses.

The Investors in People awards, a scheme by which companies who value ongoing staff training and development are supported and rewarded, will also have a budget cut, along with the marketing, research and strategy unit.

The TEC expects continuing losses into and beyond the millennium and plans to raid £1.15 from its reserves during this period, to support programmes, in the hope of breaking even in 2001.

The document indicates that it will be, at least, three years before the TEC will be in a position to consider reinstating its investment programmes aimed at benefiting the community.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.