Six members of staff have volunteered for redundancy at the National Union of Journalists as it seeks to deal with its financial crisis.

The union says it has managed to avoid compulsory redundancies as part of its recovery plan, which aims to save £400,000 from its budget, which is also expected to result in a rise in member subscriptions.

The members of staff who are taking voluntary redundancy are assistant organisers Lawrence Shaw and Don Mackglew, along with Jo Frost, George McClure, June Coughlan and Eve DaCosta.

An article in the union’s magazine The Journalist said further savings would also be made in the coming year because a dozen other staff had offered to work reduced hours, while it plans to increase member subscriptions by between 15p and 26p a week.

It comes after the union was criticised earlier this month by a group of prominent union members over plans to close its training department and outsource the administering of the service to another organisation.

The article said trade union training would be administered through the General Federation of Trade Unions, while the administration of its professional training would be put out to tender.