Cuts in Government funding mean that changes in lecturers’ contracts have to be looked at, Bradford College has said.

The college, which this week unveiled plans for a £50 million state-of-the-art redevelopment, is in talks with unions about making contracts more flexible because the new building is expected to be open 48 weeks a year.

Changes could include increased teaching hours, changes to holidays, and making the normal working week include Saturday.

Julie Kelley, regional official for the University and College Union, which represents 500 lecturers at the college, said some members had reacted in horror to part of the proposals.

But a College spokesman said it was pursuing a new contract because cuts in Government funding meant it had to deliver more for less.

“This means we need to look at how we can free up restrictive practices in the current contract to allow our lecturing staff to deliver the curriculum more efficiently,” the spokesman added.

“We opened negotiations last summer and have allowed a full academic year to reach agreement.

“We have had productive discussions with UCU so far and hope that these will progress in the next few months and are aiming to deliver a contract which recognises the professionalism of our staff, allows us to attract and retain the best lecturers for our students and also allows us to deploy staff efficiently and effectively.

“We went through a similar exercise with our support staff recently and were able to agree a new contract with them that is working well and we hope to deliver the same outcome with UCU.”