THIRTEEN people employed on Bournemouth and Poole’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme face an anxious wait to discover if they will keep their jobs.

All BSF employees, who are jointly funded between the two councils, are facing an uncertain future after the coalition government announced it was axing much of the national school rebuilding programme.

As a result, Bournemouth and Poole have lost funding to pay for new buildings at five schools and are waiting to see if the remaining four – Ashdown Technology College, The Bourne Academy (Kings High), St Aldhelm’s Academy (Rossmore) and the Bishop of Winchester Academy – will go ahead.

Jane Portman, Bournemouth’s executive director for children and families’ services, said: “It is not yet clear how the four schools under discussion will be reviewed and what our role may be in this process.

“We are not in a position to make any firm decisions regarding the BSF team until we have further information about the review and its implications from central government,” she added.

“We understand this will take about a month after which we will revise our plans and decide on the best way forward.”

The Echo can also reveal how, less than three weeks before Education Secretary Michael Gove’s announcement, BSF programme director Barry Watts told local council staff they were “pressing on with the programme as planned.”

An email sent to staff on June 18 said they were aware the new government was carrying out a spending review but that, following two years of intensive planning, Bournemouth and Poole were ready to produce detailed designs.

The email added they hoped the first school rebuild would be finished by September 2013.