Anchor Trust staff have accused the charity of failing to consult them about 400 job losses.
The Anchor Group Staff Association said it was negotiating 鈥渋n the dark鈥� after the job losses and closure of six offices were announced (HT 21 November, page 11).

It said senior staff had 鈥渄isappeared鈥�, there had been little or no explanation of the changes, and morale 鈥渃annot get any lower鈥�.

AGSA partnership officer Paul Francis says his organisation only received the news the evening before it was announced. 鈥淲e do not consider this to be working with either the affected staff or ourselves,鈥� he added.

The office closures came on top of the closure of Bath and Liverpool centres plus small offices in Hull, Middlesbrough, Ferndown in Dorset and Leeds. Three heads of regional operations will lose their jobs and several development staff have been made redundant.

Anchor said it had not issued redundancy notices and would consult on the announcements already made.

Anchor separately plans to cut jobs and hours among up to 200 wardens because of Supporting People. Anchor says it will ensure 鈥渁ll schemes represent good value for tenants as customers鈥� and the reorganisation will lead to more efficient and effective management. But Francis said: 鈥淲e do not believe that Anchor鈥檚 residents have noticed any benefit from this continual restructuring, nor that they will find any comfort from the proposed changes.鈥�

Anchor鈥檚 operating surplus increased to 拢12.4m last year.

Source

Housing Today