The British Mountaineering Council has released a further statement and video response on the organisation's restructure. 

Last week we published an article titled 'Redundancies, Deficits and Direction - What's happening at the BMC?' in response to an initial BMC statement, which did not outline staff reductions in detail. 

Read the latest statement - released today (18 July) - and watch a video response from BMC President Andy Syme below:

"Last week we started a small restructure process, undertaken so that we have the right structure, financially and operationally, to deliver our priorities across all areas moving forward over the coming years. We appreciate this has raised questions but out of respect to those involved we could only share so much during the process, now this is concluded we can share the outcomes.

"The BMC, like many other membership and commercial organisations, has found itself in a difficult operating environment. We have emerged from the pandemic into a cost of living crisis that has had a wide-reaching impact.

"This has impacted the BMC through a slower than forecast rate of membership growth and it has also impacted on our sources of commercial income.

"We have been tracking membership and commercial revenue since the start of the year and have been implementing course corrections - holding back work that was originally budgeted for but was only planned to be done if our revenue targets were achieved. At the same time as this we have been reviewing our base-costs to ensure that they remain affordable, and aligned to our income.

"It is important to note that our membership is still growing, but growth is not at the rate that we had hoped for as we came out of the pandemic affected years. Our operational budget must reflect the income we receive and we also need to ensure we have the right staff base to deliver for our membership and our community.

"As mentioned above much of the 2023 reductions are reductions in operational budgets, actioned from course corrections that were built into the budget, with spend to be based on income generated. Having this course correction plan in place at the outset was good governance, especially in challenging times as we are all experiencing at the moment. However, we have still found ourselves in a position where additional savings were required and regretfully, we had to instigate a restructure plan.

"We understand that this may have caused concern to our members and volunteers, and there were questions being posed, but we have had to deal with this in a sensitive manner, at all times respecting the privacy of those individuals who were put at risk of redundancy. Hopefully we can answer most of those questions now and our focus will be on ensuring good communications as we move forwards.

"The BMC has been built on the core work we do across access and conservation, with a passionate team of staff and volunteers working together with local communities and landowners to maintain and ensure continued access to crags. We also have a great record of success working in collaboration with partner organisations on national access policy and decision-making. Today this work continues as we have staff present outside the High Courts representing the BMC while the appeal against the Dartmoor wild camping ruling is heard.

"This remains a priority for us, as it does our members, and that is reflected in the actions we have taken.

"While this has been an uncertain process for everyone involved we were committed to working through it swiftly and respectfully and within what is legally required. Our focus has been to minimise the impact of this decision on our employees, and by extension, on our members, volunteers and stakeholders. Over the last two weeks we have consulted with the staff team and had constructive conversations about the proposals which have shaped the final outcome. We thank the staff for the professionalism in which they have engaged with the process.

"Following the consultation we will be reducing our overall Full-Time-Equivalent (FTE) permanent staff by 3.3, from 53 staff to 50 staff. There have been no compulsory redundancies and one voluntary redundancy. The remaining FTE reductions coming from non-recruitment of vacant roles and reduction in total hours in some roles. We have also concluded a fixed term contract at 0.8 FTE. With reductions across teams broken down as follows:

• GB Climbing & Marketing & Communications – 1.0
• Access, Conservation and Environmental Sustainability (ACES) – 0.3 (and reduced 0.4 fixed term contract)
• Finance – 1.0
• HR & Governance – 1.0

"It should be noted that most of the GB Climbing team are funded directly by UK Sport with a 15% contribution from central funds that are ringfenced, similarly, Sport England fund roles that benefit all of the organisation.

"The BMC made a clear statement back in 2018 that we felt the widest benefit to the whole community was through remaining a broad community and that the changes to our governance were necessary to access UK Sport/Sport England funding and to better operate as an organisation that is member focused. 

"Our subsequent bid to Sport England means the BMC now has access to significantly more money to support the indoor climbing community, without having to take money from other areas of our vital work.  More and more climbers enter the sport through indoor climbing, and ignoring or not representing this community is neither good for us now, nor for our long term relevancy. It has also included funding and collaboration with our key partners like MTUK, ABC and NICAS/NIBAS. The system is integrated and to remain relevant we must remain part of it.

"By working with funders on indoor climbing it gives the BMC credibility and opens up opportunities for us, and partners, for support across hill walking and outdoor climbing initiatives.

"It has been a tough few weeks for the staff team and we again thank everyone for their professionalism and support of each other. We are part of a passionate community and understand why concerns have been raised and this process has been part of making the right decisions for the future of the BMC, its members and wider community. We care about the vital work we do and the staff, volunteers and members who support and contribute to it. We have opportunities and challenges ahead and want to reiterate our commitment to work with the community to realise those opportunities and continue to protect our spaces and support people in doing the activities they love."

Roger Murray – Chair

Andy Syme – President

Paul Davies – CEO

This statement was published on the BMC website.