Reprieve hope for Daresbury scientists’ jobs

Jul 2 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post

Things aren’t looking quite as bad

SCIENTISTS at Daresbury are expecting brighter news about their future after a government funding council met yesterday.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) met to discuss what projects to fund in the future.

STFC was left in dire straits after the Government’s comprehensive spending review in November.

The council was left with an £80m blackhole.

Initial plans to solve the funding crisis included culling 350 of the 500 jobs at Daresbury.

But signals from the Government-funded laboratory suggest between 100 and 150 jobs could go.

Consultation documents suggest that much of Daresbury’s work could be safe.

The much hoped-for Next Generation Light Source (NLS) could also be earmarked for the Cheshire campus.

Graeme Clark, an X-ray physicist at Daresbury and a representative for the Prospect scientists union, said he was expecting the staff level to shrink to around 350 to 400

But he added a general call for voluntary redundancies remained in place and vacant posts are not being refilled.

He also said the Alice accelerator – a precursor to the NLS – should get funded.

Dr Clark said: “Things aren’t looking quite as bad. The message I’m getting is that probably there won’t be any more compulsory redundancies. Daresbury will contract a bit more, but without any big step change.”

The final decisions made by STFC’s Council, which met at the Daresbury site’s Cockcroft Centre, will be kept under wraps until at least the end of the week.

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