TRADE union bosses have revealed they raised concerns about the financial stability of Hampshire Cultural Trust when council workers first joined the charity.

It comes as the organisation has just finished consulting staff over job loses following a reduction in local authority grant money.

A number of staff at Hampshire Cultural Trust (HCT), which manages museums and culturally important artifacts on behalf of both Hampshire County Council (HCC) and Winchester City Council (WCC), have left the organisation voluntarily as part of the process.

Union representatives added that there were no compulsory redundancies.

HCT could not confirm the exact number of staff who had left yet as the recruitment process for newly formed positions is still ongoing.

Speaking about his concerns, David Anderson, branch secretary at Hampshire Unison, said: “The vast majority of employees were employed by HCC when the trust was first set up.

“The proposals were to move from HCC contracts to HCT contracts.

Obviously a lot of our members were concerned about that.

“I advised that there was a pitfall because they were very reliant on income generation from outside sources. A lot of funding came from Heritage Lottery grants.

“It is our understanding that that money has dried up now.

“I did raise concerns at the time.”

As previously reported, concerns were raised that in-house historical experts could be lost from Basingstoke’s museums in a bid to save money.

Specialist roles at venues such as the Milestones Museum, Willis Museum and Basing House, run by the HCT, could be replaced in favour of more digital investment to create cultural hubs.

The trust had confirmed there will be a 10 per cent reduction in its staff but argued the wider changes it was making would “lead to rich and engaging experiences for our customers”.

The trust was set up in 2014 to operate arts and museum facilities previously operated by HCC and WCC.

An open letter has been sent to HCC’s culture and communities select committee, saying the council should take back ownership of venues.

Responding to the claims from Unison, a HCT spokeswoman said: “HCT have had no issues with unions since the trust was launched in November 2014.

“We have a number of current, ongoing projects with Heritage Lottery funding which support our work with communities across Hampshire and we plan to secure further funding in the future.”