At Devon Air Ambulance we are committed to maintaining the essential emergency service that the charity provides and 2020 was busier than ever. At the same time, we, along with many other charities, suffered a huge financial shortfall through the cancellation of hundreds of face-to-face fundraising events and the closures of our shops during lockdowns. Projections for 2021 are no better.

As we enter a new year with a similar set of circumstances to the last, it is clear we need to diversify our approach to how we generate income. We also need to invest in streamlining our systems and processes to become more efficient and enable us to be flexible and responsive to whatever opportunities and challenges lie ahead.

As a result, we have reviewed the structure of our Finance, Fundraising and Communications teams to ensure we have the right skills and experience within these teams to build on and expand our fundraising activities and maximise our efficiency.

Sadly, this is likely to result in some of our loyal and hard-working staff facing redundancy where some roles have been replaced with new roles requiring different skills, experience or qualifications. In this case we will do all we can to support our colleagues with compassion and care as we are immensely grateful to them for the compassion and care they have shown to our cause.

It is with a heavy heart that we must take this route but it is necessary to safeguard our life-saving service for Devon’s most critically ill and injured not just for today but long into the future.