The think tank PBE is set to cut its full time staff by 10 and increase its part time staff by two as part of a restructure caused by a drop in income, its chief executive has said.
The changes follow a consultation period last month.
Matt Whittaker, chief executive of PBE, said the think tank was scaling back its policy and comms work while protecting its ability to support UK charities with economic analysis and expertise.
The charity is expected to have a team of nine full-time and five part-time staff once its restructure is completed, he said.
This is down from 19 full-time and three part-time staff before the restructure began.
“Most of the planned redundancies took place at the end of October, with decisions on a final two roles to be made at the end of the year,” said Whittaker.
“While the restructure is not something we would have wanted to undertake if circumstances didn’t demand it, we’re pleased to note that the combination of a reduction in our cost base alongside some recent multi-year funding success has rapidly restored our finances to a stable position.”
Whittaker said PBE had supported 161 social sector organisations this year through its Unlocking Impact workshops, Data First Aid service and its advice, analysis and advocacy partnerships.
“We’ve approached the restructure in a way that should allow us to scale back only slightly on this activity, with an ambition to help at least 125 organisations over the course of 2026,” he said.
“We’ll likewise be continuing to train economists from across the social, private and public sectors in the use of wellbeing impact methodologies, along with maintaining our coordination of the Social Sector Economists Network.
“And we’ll continue to run the Small Charities Council established earlier this year.”
Whittaker said PBE would continue to balance “reactive support” for charities that seek the think tank’s help with “proactive efforts” to identify and plug key evidence gaps that can empower the wider social sector and make a meaningful difference to the UK’s wellbeing.
“While we’ll no longer have in-house capacity for comms and large-scale public events, we’ll be keen to work with partners to ensure the evidence we generate gets plugged into local and national policy debates and design,” he said.
“As a smaller organisation, we’ll inevitably do a little less in 2026.
“But, through the quality of our work and the richness of our collaborations, we hope to remain as relevant and as impactful as ever.”