Eight employees at James Butcher Housing Association’s head office have been made redundant as part of a review of operating costs.

The job cuts included the Reading-based association’s director of housing and a rent officer. They follow the discovery in February that it needed to find an extra £75m to spend on its 4200 homes over 30 years (HT 4 February, page 14).

A further 17 job losses are expected at the end of March in the association’s catering division as it prepares to end the in-house preparation of meals at sheltered housing schemes.

David Hucker, James Butcher’s interim chief executive, said: “While redundancies are regrettable, they are necessary to ensure that we achieve a balanced budget this year while continuing to provide services to our most vulnerable tenants.

When asked about the likelihood of further redundancies, he said: “I am not going to commit on that ahead of the review. I am certain that we need to reduce our operating costs further into the future.”

Hucker said the association had shortlisted eight associations as potential merger partners. The list will be put to the James Butcher board for approval in two weeks.

Source

Housing Today