HUNDREDS of jobs are set to be axed at schools technology provider RM Education, it emerged yesterday.

Bosses at the company said they will make up to 300 redundancies across the UK business, with the majority of staff based at the headquarters in Milton Park, near Didcot.

And it also announced it is putting its school furniture division Isis, based at Tetsworth, near Thame, up for sale in a move affecting 35 workers.

At the same time a profits warning was issued to the Stock Exchange with bosses admitting a major drop in capital spending by schools had hit the business hard.

They also said the scrapping of the Labour government’s Building Schools for the Future programme meant a major restructuring of the company was needed.

Chief executive Terry Sweeney told the Oxford Mail: “This is a tough day. The number of roles we are making redundant is between 250 and 300, and as Oxfordshire is the largest centre, that will be reflected.

“We have been operating a recruitment freeze since July, so there has already been some natural wastage.

“Staff have been informed and everyone will be having a face-to-face briefing as part of a consultation process. But we do this with the intention of not having to do it again. It is not just about the next six months.”

Around 1,200 people are employed at Milton Park and 2,500 in the UK.

RM Education made a “small number” of redundancies at Milton Park last year but continued to be profitable. But in May it was announced the firm had slipped into the red, posting a pre-tax loss of £1.4m for the six months to March 31.

That was followed in July by a trading statement where it said results for the year to September were likely to be lower than expected, prompting its share price to tumble.

Last night it had slumped by more than 18 per cent to 82.5p after bosses admitted the financial year’s results would be below the bottom end of market expectations.

No buyer has been found for the Isis furniture business, but Mr Sweeney assured workers that it would continue to be owned by RM Education until a deal could be done.