About BHF
BHF announces staff consultation and warns of a possible loss of 300 roles
The BHF has today announced that it intends to consult with staff on reducing costs which may involve losing up to 300 roles at the charity. We have been forced to begin the process in response to the devastating fall in our income caused by the coronavirus crisis.
This year, we expect net income to fall by 50% largely due to the closure of our 750 shops for four months and cancellation of most fundraising events. Whilst we are committed to honouring our existing research programme, this sudden fall in income will force us to cut support for new research by about £50 million this year, and it could take many years for our funding to return to pre-pandemic levels. As the UK’s leading independent funder of heart and circulatory research we fear this will threaten progress and prevent discoveries that could save and improve lives.
Since the crisis began, we have taken numerous steps to mitigate the costs of the crisis and its impact on people with heart and circulatory diseases. We have launched new fundraising appeals, utilised the Government’s job retention scheme, and negotiated with our landlords and suppliers to reduce costs. Other measures include a recruitment freeze and the cancellation of the annual, inflationary pay rise. However, these measures are not enough to weather the crisis and we now expect to consult staff on the approach to refocus, a process we expect will take several months to complete.
Our biggest challenge
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, our Chief Executive, said: “The coronavirus crisis is the single biggest challenge we’ve faced in our 60-year history and, despite the tireless commitment of our BHF team and supporters, threatens our life-saving work for the coming years.
“In addition to the health impact of the crisis the financial shockwaves from this will be profound, threatening scientific progress and the discoveries that ultimately transform diagnosis, care and support for patients. We’ve left no stone unturned in finding new ways of generating income and reducing costs, but unfortunately, we must consider reducing our activities and the size of our workforce as we chart our recovery.
“This has been an incredibly difficult decision and it will be even harder for those people who may leave our BHF team. We deeply regret the impact this may have on those colleagues who are affected and will explore every avenue to minimise the number of job losses, including through the re-allocation of roles within the organisation.”
Support for research
In addition to the measures we are taking, the BHF believes the Government urgently needs to provide more support to charities and UK medical research through the crisis. With the Association of Medical Research charities and its 150 members, we are calling on the Prime Minister to establish a Life Sciences Charity Partnership Fund which would match charity-funded research over the next three years. We believe that a failure to stabilise UK medical research could devastate the research careers of thousands of scientists, undermine the UK’s standing as a global research powerhouse and ultimately delay new treatments and cures reaching patients.
Dr Griffiths added: “The steps we’re taking will go some way to safeguard the BHF’s life-saving work, but the cliff-edge fall in our research funding will have devastating consequences that ultimately mean patients suffer. The stakes are far higher than the future of any individual charity. We’d urge the Prime Minister and Government to recognise that an investment in maintaining current levels of charity-funded research is an investment in UK science, the careers of thousands of talented researchers, and the future treatment of people with heart and circulatory diseases. Failing to make this investment could be hugely damaging to the future health of the nation.”
Responding to Covid-19
The announcement comes at a time when the expertise of BHF-funded researchers and the support it offers to patients have been in huge demand. At the peak of the pandemic, calls to the BHF’s Helpline rose by 400%, leading the charity to expand the service to support people in need.
The BHF has also encouraged its researchers to direct their efforts to tackling Covid-19 and set-up a programme for supporting flagship projects into understanding the relationship between the virus and heart and circulatory diseases. Many BHF-funded researchers are now uncovering new and improved ways of diagnosing the heart damage caused by Covid-19 and potential treatments that could prevent it.