PROPOSALS to restructure York Minster could result in 20 or more redundancies, a letter to staff shows.

It was reported last week that the Minster is set to undergo a restructuring process, which could lead to redundancies within the organisation.

The Press has now seen a letter to staff from The Rt Revd Dr Jonathan Frost, Dean of York Minster, which states: “The restructuring proposals will affect many of you.

“Collective consultation is necessary because the Chapter’s proposal to restructure could result in 20 or more redundancies.”

It added that if redundancies become necessary, the work department, Chapter office, VE department, police, heritage department and music, liturgy and vergers could be affected.

But the letter added that the consultation will explore ways of avoiding or reducing the number of redundancies.

It also said the Chapter had sought cost-saving measures - such as a recruitment freeze on all but statutory or project funded posts, halting non-essential expenditure, while job offers made in February and March have been retracted.

But it added that “all these measures are insufficient to secure a sustainable future for York Minster”.

Last week, a spokesperson for the Minster said: “As part of its measures to safeguard its future, Chapter is now beginning the process to restructure parts of the organisation, and this may lead to redundancies.

“Our first step is to invite nominations to elect employee representatives from affected departments, so we can begin the collective consultation process.

“The letter to staff communicated the first steps so we can begin a consultation process.

“Proposals will be announced once the consultation is complete. Staff will be consulted collectively and individually but to start this process, we need to elect employee representatives from affected departments.”

The Minster said yesterday it had “nothing further to add last week’s statement”.

The news follows the closure of The Minster School in June, which was blamed on a £5.2 million financial shortfall as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.