British Council staff in Italy to strike over proposed 80% workforce cut

Staff at the British Council in Italy will go on strike on Thursday over deep cuts that would slash about 80% of its workforce due to a funding crisis facing the organisation.

Out of 130 of its teaching staff across Rome, Milan and Naples, 108 are being targeted as teaching activities in Italy face the axe. The move would end 80 years of British Council English language teaching in Italy as part of the organisation’s global mission to promote British culture and education across the world, sources said.

Shocked staff will protest next to the British embassy in Rome, with another strike planned for 4 June.

The British Council, a key soft power institution founded in 1934 which operates in about 100 countries, has been forced into restructuring due to a £197m government loan which dates back to the Covid pandemic. Agreed under the government of the Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson, the loan has a reported annual interest of around £14m and must be repaid by September this year.

A source said its Italy operations had been “extremely badly hit”. They added: “Everybody is very shocked, very upset, very sad, obviously also very angry as well.

“Because our presence will be so small at end of all this, it’s a very strong political message that Italy isn’t important.”

The British Council conducts English language tuition for adults and children as well as corporate and business classes. It is understood its exams division would continue under partners, and cultural events would remain.

The British Council’s chief executive, Scott McDonald, has previously said the organisation could “disappear” within a decade, harming the UK’s global status and leaving an international vacuum to be filled by Russia and China, unless the government acts to save it.

Politico reported that an internal consultation document lists 784 jobs “in scope” across the UK and Europe, with at least 404 roles expected to be “displaced”, which accounts for 15% of staff.

Consultations are also understood to be taking place in France, Spain and Portugal.