The boss of the National Trust says the decision to lay off hundreds of staff during the Covid-19 crisis was the worst moment of her career.
Director-general Hilary McGrady said that losing so many colleagues during the pandemic had been a “terrible time” for the charity, but argued the decision was necessary to protect its future.
More than 1,700 NT staff were made redundant in 2020/21 as it tried to plug losses of £170m caused by the impact of Covid-19. The charity’s income recovered strongly in 2021/22 once pandemic restrictions were lifted.
McGrady also told Third Sector the robust response to challenges from the Restore Trust campaigners was “a sign of our confidence” in the charity’s work.
She was speaking ahead of the launch of the NT’s strategy for the next 12 months, which is unveiled today.
Asked about the redundancies, McGrady said: “That was the worst thing I have ever had to do in my career. It was awful.
“But it was necessary to ensure the organisation could not just survive but ultimately be able to come out of Covid-19 and bounce back, which is exactly what we have been able to do.
“It was very painful and a terrible time, but it does mean that we have been able to bounce back this year.”
Some staff contacted McGrady to express their ongoing support for the charity even after they lost their jobs. “That gives me some sort of comfort,” she said. “Not a lot, mind you, but some.”
Last year the NT defeated campaigners from Restore Trust, who the charity said had waged a “paid-for campaign” full of “misleading and inaccurate” claims to change the way it was governed.
Restore Trust has raised concerns about, among other issues, the NT’s decision to explore the colonial history of some of the properties it owns.
McGrady said the charity chose to respond publicly by addressing the “misinformation or perhaps misinterpretation” coming from Restore Trust and wanted to direct the debate back to what the NT was trying to achieve.
She added: “It is a sign of our confidence in believing [that] what we are doing is the right thing, and I genuinely do believe that.
“Most of the things that Restore Trust had a concern about were actually things that we had been doing since our inception.
“We were telling stories about these places and we have always told stories about them. What we are doing is revealing things that had not been focused on before.”
McGrady said she was excited about the trust’s plans for the next 12 months, adding: “We have had a number of years, really since the beginning of Covid-19, that has felt as if we have just been surviving, in a way.
“So this year really feels as if we are back to doing what we do best.”