BARNSLEY Hospice has refused to say how many people it has made redundant but one of those forced out says it is 12.

The Chronicle revealed in April that about 26 staff were at risk of redundancy and that a consultation was underway to restructure the retail arm of the charity.

The Chronicle has made several attempts to find out what the results of the consultation were.

Yesterday, deputy marketing manager at the hospice Zoe Mitchell said: "I am afraid I can not disclose how many redundancies there are."As you can understand this is a confidential matter we cannot disclose the the number of people who may be affected."

One devastated worker said: "How can it be confidential? From people I've talked to there are 12 I'm aware of, myself included."It's been heartbreaking, it really has.

"It's more than a job, for everyone at the hospice I feel, it's always been more than just a job. We love the hospice, and we don't want any of this to have a negative impact on the hospice, but we do feel very badly treated by the management."

In a statement, the hospice explained: "Barnsley Hospice has nine shops which have been declining in income for the past three years.

 

"We have restructured our retail operation to proactively reverse this trend and ensure we have the best structures in place for our shops to develop and thrive.

"We are committed to retail are are looking to expand retail and open an additional retail shop later this year.

"Barnsley Hospice will be employ more people across the whole organisation and we are committed to delivering as many services as possible to residents in Barnsley."