Anchor to close six offices and shed 400 staff in shake-up

Anchor Trust is to shed 400 Support and administration jobs and close six of its 11 offices.

The care provider, which currently employs 10,000 people, is to reorganise in order to deliver its services to older people in the most cost-effective way.

The major reorganisation will see the trust moving its registered headquarters from Kidlington in Oxfordshire to its London office, already home to the trust's most senior staff.

A small office in Oxfordshire will be retained for a team of core professional staff.

The other offices affected are in Birmingham, Cambridge, Oxford, Nottingham, Altrincham near Liverpool and Waltham Abbey in north-east London, all of which will close. The trust will also reduce its presence in Sutton, Surrey.

Support services will, in future, be run from centres in Bradford and Newcastle. The changes are planned to take effect during the next year. Frontline services, delivered by 8300 staff, are not affected by the reorganisation.

The trust currently has 850 administration and support staff. Few staff are expected to want to relocate but some of the 400 affected will be offered suitable alternatives in the new centres.

Anchor runs a number of organisations including sheltered housing, staying-put schemes for owner-occupiers and care services. Until last year it had to put in £3m a year to cross-subsidise its 96 residential and nursing homes (HT 31 October, page 17).

Anchor said the savings from its reorganisation would be significant but the exact figure was "commercially sensitive".

The benefits are expected to include being able to meet older people's individual needs locally by concentrating relevant operations in the new centres.

Anchor Trust chief executive John Belcher said: "I understand the concerns of the staff affected and Anchor will work with them and our staff association to manage the personal impact of these changes."