MEETINGS are set to be held between managements at the crisis-hit Wiltshire College and staff unions.

The college, which caters for 30,000 students at sites including Trowbridge and Chippenham, is £1.8 million in the red and is being forced to make cutbacks.

In a letter to staff, principal George Bright said: "Whilst I do regret any proposals that lead to redundancies and the need for savings, we have to recognise that we have to cut the losses we are currently incurring in order to ensure the stability of the college."

It has already been ann-ounced the college will not be filling some vacant posts in order to save money and a pay freeze affecting many staff is to be brought in.

Mr Bright said: "A small number of further job losses are required to balance the budget, however, following negotiations with the trade unions they have asked that we seek any interest in voluntary redundancy from all lecturing and business support staff before pursuing any specific redundancy proposals."

The financial problems at the college came to light after an audit revealed a series of errors in its records that meant it had been claiming funding for students who were not actually taking classes.

The college now has to pay back over £1 million to the Learning and Skills Council, which provided funding per individual that enrols at the college, over the next 12 months.

An outline budget for 2003-4 has been produced and the college aims to manage changes to its financial structure with the help of a £1 million overdraft facility.

Other cutbacks are to include a reduction in teaching input into full time courses, savings in payments for extra hours, for example removing casual hours and overtime budgets for the majority of business support areas.

The college also has to take into account increased national insurance contributions from employers and the cost of teachers' pension increases, which are not being entirely funded by the Government.

The budget proposals are due to be discussed further at a meeting on June 9 when a draft budget will be prepared to go before the college corporation meeting on July 14.