A TOTAL of 17 staff have been made redundant at a charity which runs Bradford’s drug and alcohol services – leaving a union “dismayed.”

A further 31 workers at Change, Grow, Live (CGL) have taken voluntary redundancy, it has been revealed.

The cuts amount to a one third reduction in the charity’s total workforce, which now stands at 102.

The charity was commissioned by Bradford Council to take on the dual service from October 1, which had previously involved several agencies.

It began a consultation in September to assess the priorities and needs of the service to ensure service users would have access to the same level of support and focus on recovery.

A spokesman for CGL said: “We have run a full consultation and listened to the views of our staff and representatives. Changes to the service mean it was necessary to review staffing levels with a view to ensuring that we are delivering support and treatment to all those who need it in a cost-effective way. We have been able to mitigate the number of compulsory redundancies, with 31 staff taking voluntary redundancy. Regrettably we have also had to make 17 compulsory redundancies, reducing our total workforce to 102.

“We are working with all staff affected and will do what we can to mitigate the impact of these changes on our workforce, while continuing to deliver a high standard of care to those who come to us for help.We have set up on-site support for staff and offered all staff our CGL employee assistance programme.

“We have organised support sessions with the careers centre and job centre plus and staff will be able to apply for redeployment vacancies that come up within the organisation.”

A spokesman for Unison, the public service union, said: “UNISON is dismayed to see such a high level of job losses in the service.

“It is particularly dreadful news for those who are facing compulsory redundancy and the cuts will have a huge impact on the ability of the service to reach out to those in need of support.

“You cannot take out a third of the workforce and expect to be able to deliver the same service as before – it simply isn’t possible.

“UNISON has been concerned about the consultation process from the outset.

“Such situations are stressful enough, but we do not believe that CGL have helped by the way that they have gone about consultation.

“We are continuing to support those affected and will be challenging CGL to provide alternative work to those at threat of compulsory redundancy.”