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

Soft power institution faces funding crisis linked to Covid-era government loan due to be repaid by September Staff at the British Council in Italy will go on strike 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 on Thursday to the British embassy in Rome, with another strike planned for 4 June. The British Council, a leading institution of soft power founded in 1934 which operates in about 100 countries, has been forcedto restructure due to a £197m government loan that dates back to the Covid pandemic. The loan, agreed under Boris Johnson’s Conservative government, has a reported annual interest of about £14m and must be repaid by September. A source said its operations in Italy had been “extremely badly hit”. They added: “Everybody is very shocked, very upset, v