Journalists working for a family-owned newspaper group have been told they can volunteer for redundancy as the company tries to cut costs.

Staff working for Bullivant Media, which publishes 12 weekly newspapers in the Midlands, have been told the company will ‘look favourably’ on anyone who comes forward for redundancy, according to insiders.

It is understood everyone working for the papers, which includes the Bromsgrove Standard, Coventry Observer, Rugby Observer and Worcester Standard, is being invited to apply for redundancy.

The move comes on top of other recent departures which staff say have left newsrooms severely stretched, including the Leamington editorial hub which will be left with just nine journalists writing stories for five newspapers.

One inside source told HTFP: “For now the staff who remain are still reluctant to fall back on lazy cut and paste journalism and we continue to regularly beat our local rivals on story strength despite having far fewer resources. Our websites are also among the best in the Midlands.

“But any more cutbacks will make it virtually impossible to function, especially given staff presumably have to take holidays at some point.

“Recently ‘story counts’ were introduced, appearing to render the writer of one excellent lead story less valuable than another who has churned out five or six fillers.

“Morale is at absolute rock bottom, even lower than when the company sat in administration a couple of years ago.”

Proprietor Chris Bullivant Jnr had not responded to requests for a comment at the time of publication.