One-third of Comic Relief staff are being affected by a restructure intended to help the charity implement a new strategy.
The charity has begun a month-long consultation with 55 of its approximately 165 staff over a reorganisation that will result in the loss of some jobs alongside the creation of others.
Comic Relief said it expected only a small number of staff to leave the charity as a result of the exercise because most of those affected had been offered alternative roles at similar or higher seniority. In addition, it said it was creating between 25 and 30 new roles that people could apply for.
Samir Patel, chief executive of Comic Relief, told Third Sector the changes were part of a new strategy that aimed to ensure the charity could help as many people as possible and to enable it to pursue new ideas.
“Our new strategy will focus on daily poverty as we enter an unprecedented time where people are making tough choices between eating or heating homes,” he said.
“We will be doing more partnership work and reacting to urgent crises, from food relief to emergency shelter and mental health support.
“We want to try new things and do more campaigns throughout the year and help more people.”
Patel said Comic Relief had spent the past few months working on the strategy and trustees had approved the new direction last month. The consultation with affected staff began this week.
The process is expected to be completed around the end of September.
Patel said: “Although the few years ahead are going to be challenging from an economic standpoint, even from a charity standpoint, we just want to make sure we’re at least setting ourselves up to have as much impact as possible and be able to help as many people as possible.
“That’s really what’s driving a lot of this change and, ultimately, it’s just trying to create a more future-fit organisation.”