UP TO 40 jobs are likely to go at an educational publisher in Oxford following its sale last year for £475m to multinational Pearson.

A spokesperson for Pearson, Charles Goldsmith, declined to confirm the number of job cuts but said the company had entered into a period of consultation with a "small number of staff" across its Oxford and Harlow offices.

He said: "Pearson always seeks to find suitable roles for staff across the business and will be consulting with its staff to secure the right roles for people wherever possible."

After the sale of the former Harcourt Education, which employed 660 people at Jordan Hill in Oxford, unions said they were relieved it was not sold to a private equity "asset-stripper".

However, it is understood that consultation over 39 redundancies has started in the customer services department.

Anna Wagstaffe, secretary of the Oxford and District branch of the National Union of Journalists, said: "We understand that there will be quite a few redundancies and it's worrying for staff.

"At the moment, we have no indication that any of the editorial or graphics staff whom we represent are going to be under threat of redundancy."

The books and online learning materials produced in Oxford are used by teachers and students in primary and secondary schools, with imprints such as Heinemann, Rigby and Ginn.

Reed still owns Kidlington-based Elsevier Science, which produces 15,000-plus publications, including medical journal The Lancet.

5:05pm Wednesday 23rd July 2008

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