TEACHER redundancies in Swindon will not be as bad as first feared.

The exact figure has yet to be confirmed but it is believed 11 teachers will be made redundant as headteachers try to make savings following claims that they are underfunded. It is not yet known how many of these redundancies are compulsory or voluntary, or which schools are affected.

But the figure of 11 has been challenged by the council's lead member for education Coun Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw & Nine Elms). He said while redundancy notices had been issued these would not instantly lead to a teacher losing their job. Heads can make changes, for example, by cutting the hours of teaching assistants.

It is understood that some older teachers are keen to take redundancy. Coun Perkins said: "I was told only one teacher had been made redundant. Other schools are going through the process of redundancies but that does not necessarily mean it will happen. Schools will be looking at their budgets to assess the situation but the final total will not be known until later in the year."