Staff at IP Wireless in Chippenham are facing the axe after the company announced it is to make 34 jobs redundant at the town’s branch.

The company, based at Greenways Business Park, announced the news to its 125 staff members in December, giving those affected three months notice.

But rumours that the 14 senior management staff members, who earn in excess of £80,000 will not have to take a 20 per cent pay cut like other members of staff, have been fiercely denied.

William Jones CEO said: “As with many companies that need to survive through the recession, we plan to try and keep as many skilled workers as possible.

“In order to minimise redundancies, management were asked by our employee consultation representatives to consider an across the board temporary salary cut.

“As such we have implemented a 20 per cent salary reduction for six months only. This applies to all employees, including directors, worldwide. The company intends to repay this salary sacrifice to employees when agreed targets are met.”

A spokesman for the company said: “At the beginning of the year, IPWireless announced that they had successfully completed a management buyout from its former parent, and secured long-term financial funding from a strategic partner.

“We firmly believe that this funding will provide us with the necessary financial footing to continue to support existing and new customers in the commercial and government sectors, and allow us to be cash-flow positive in the second half of this year. In this current difficult economic climate however, it also meant we needed to make some very difficult decisions including a reduction in staff in our Chippenham office.”

IP Wireless is one of the world’s leading suppliers of wireless broadband network equipment and subscriber terminals.

The company has been located in Chippenham for approximately ten years will be making a total of 45 job cuts worldwide.