It’s seemed like lately all we’ve been doing is reporting bad news after bad news for the NonProfit sector; which is why it’s so nice to be able to say that, thanks to a grant in funding from the Scottish Government, the Scottish National Trust has been able to halve the number of redundancies it was previously planning.

The trust was ‘this close’ to making redundant nearly 429 staff, well over half of their total 750 employees which would have seen some Scottish heritage sites closed until 2021 or even 2022 and beyond.

Thanks to the £3.8m funding though, the charity estimates nearly 200 jobs will be saved. Most of these are seasonal roles, such as 20 countryside rangers.

Unfortunately, the Trust will still need to make redundant 188 roles, with an estimate of a further 44 voluntary redundancies but it’s thought there are currently 105 pooled posts that any affected staff could apply for as well as many roles left vacant after the recruitment freeze during the pandemic.

National Trust Scotland have committed to using the £3.8m to help underpin a new resilient operating model which they hope will let them survive short-to-medium term issues, such as a prolonged national economic recovery and further coronavirus spikes. 

The Trust have also stated the money should let them open up more properties than previously thought, much sooner than originally planned.

A ‘re-jigged’ recovery plan that will include the use of the £3.8m will be presented by the Trusts management team at the annual general meeting in September.