Suggestions that up to 200 members of staff could be made redundant at St Andrews University have been dismissed as “mischief making” by senior officials.
Nevertheless, it has been confirmed that a “consultation” has been launched and that a “limited number” of redundancies could result.
Allegations that an announcement regarding changes to catering arrangements at the university were previously postponed due to a visit by Prince William and Kate Middleton have also been branded wide of the mark.
The Courier was contacted by one concerned member of staff who suggested sweeping changes were afoot and that up to 200 jobs were at risk as a result.
The employee declined to give his name, insisting he feared for his job if his identity was made public.
“I work at the University of St Andrews and they are about to announce job cuts in catering staff and student residence managers,” he said.
“Residential business services, which oversees the running of all student residencies, were notified of plans to cut costs.
“It is possible there may be up to 200 staff to be made redundant, and catering will be supplied by a private company.
“Staff were issued with 90-day letters advising their jobs may be at risk.”
The member of staff went on to say an announcement had been held back due to the visit of Prince William and the start of the university’s 600th anniversary celebrations.
“They wanted to save any bad publicity,” he added.
However, when contacted by The Courier, Stephen Magee, the university’s vice-principal for external relations, hotly denied the allegations and insisted the situation had been blown out of all proportion.Improvement”In response to repeated and sustained requests from our students to improve our catering service, the university is currently carrying out a wide-ranging review of catering to identify areas for improvement,” he said.
“Surveys have consistently shown that students want the university to change and improve the way we provide meals to students, and we are anxious to respond positively to that demand.
“As part of the process of review and consulting staff about potential changes to catering, we are legally obliged to inform all relevant staff when there is any risk of redundancy.”
Mr Magee admitted some positions could be at risk.
“It is possible that a limited number of redundancies may result from the review,” he said.
“However, we are in full discussions with our staff and trades unions and no decisions will be taken until a 90-day period of consultation has been completed in mid-June.
“It is complete nonsense and deliberate mischief making, however, to claim or suggest that 200 jobs will be lost, that any announcement of job losses was planned for March or that a decision has been taken to outsource catering to private contractors.
“This is simply not true.”
Mr Magee said the university’s primary aim is to “improve its catering service in line with student expectations.”
“We want to do so cost-effectively while retaining this important service in-house,” he added.