Kirklees based hospice charity Kirkwood has announced that 19 employees have been made redundant as it looks to reduce its annual costs by £1.7m.

In addition, nine staff members have agreed to cut their hours or alter their roles to help the charity meet the savings.

The charity has also taken “the difficult decision” to cut the number of in-patient beds from 16 to 12. While it will continue to offer palliative support in people’s homes and in care homes in the areas it will “need to prioritise those with the most urgent and unmet needs”.

The move has been taken as the charity faces a “perfect storm” of rising costs and falling donations.

Over the last three years it has lost around £4m despite “ongoing efforts to reduce costs”, it said.

April’s rise in National Living Wage and National Insurance contributions for employers have “further deepened these financial pressures”, it warned.

Action has included lobbying to “secure a better balance of funding” with its NHS partners.

“But despite positive conversations with commissioners, we have not yet been able to secure any additional financial support,” said the charity, which notes that staffing costs represent most of its £11 annual spending.

It added: “With demand for hospice services increasing year on year, huge rises in the price of essential equipment, energy, and food have put a major strain on our charity’s finances.”

“Only around 25% of our funding comes from the NHS, meaning we rely heavily on the generosity of our local community to fund the majority of our services.

“While supporters’ contributions have continued to grow, the effect of the cost-of-living crisis has meant these efforts have not been enough to keep pace with our ever-increasing financial needs.”

Also, several staff members have decided to retire or move on from the charity, which estimates the number of patients each year it can support will reduce from 2,100 in 2024 to 1,300 in the future.

The job cuts follow a previous announcement in January that it was facing its “worst financial crisis in 40 years”. This had warned that up to 33 roles were at risk.

Kirkwood chief executive Michael Crowther said: “Unfortunately, the scale of our funding crisis has meant we’ve had to make some really difficult decisions about our clinical services as well as reducing our workforce.

“Although we won’t be closing any of our core services, the changes will impact every area of the charity.

“The truth is, without increased support, it simply isn’t possible to maintain the full range of care we have provided over the past few years. Sadly, we anticipate the number of patients and families we care for each year will reduce significantly.”

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