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

Middlewich-based South and East Cheshire Training and Enterprise Council projects a loss of £1.065 million in this financial year.

This will lead to cutbacks in vital training for the unemployed and businesses in the area.

Chief executive Liz Davis and the TEC board have ordered a "reduction in operating costs of around £2.5m over the next 18 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 20 per cent and paints a bleak picture for the unemployed in the 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 is work-based training schemes for the young and adult employed.

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 that action is required "to reduce expenditure by around £2.5m," over the next 18 months "to ensure the longer-term viability of the TEC."

She goes on to call for the TEC, based in Dalton Way, 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.

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

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

And the TEC expects continuing losses into and beyond the millennium and plans to raid £1.15m 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 to benefit the community.

It is clear from the document that the finances of the area's leading training and business support organisation, are in turmoil and that those in community who need its help most must face cutbacks in that help for many years.

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