HCA axes director posts to save £2m
The Homes and Communities Agency is slashing its number of directors and closing a London office as part of moves to save £2 million a year.
The agency will cut its number of corporate directors from seven to four and close its London Victoria office, relocating up to 100 staff to Milton Keynes.
The HCA’s director of skills and knowledge Gill Taylor has been offered redundancy and will leave at the end of June.
Deputy chief executive Eamonn Boylan and acting director of ventures and partnerships John Lewis are leaving to take up roles as chief executive at Stockport Council and as chief executive of the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation respectively and won’t be replaced.
The vacant post of director of land will also be deleted.
The closure of the Victoria office will affect more than 100 staff.
An internal consultation is underway to determine how many workers will be required to move to Milton Keynes and how many can relocate to the other HCA corporate office in Tottenham Court Road, central London.
A spokesperson said no other jobs will be cut as part of the current restructure.
Trevor Beattie, director of strategy, policy, performance and research will become director of place making, covering the agency’s corporate property, regeneration and finance work including the Thames Gateway, skills and knowledge, and the Milton Keynes Partnership.
Richard Hill, director of investment and renewal, will become director of housing growth and affordability, while Richard Ennis, director of finance, will assume additional responsibilities for communications.
Sir Bob Kerslake, chief executive of the HCA, said: ‘As a relatively new organisation seeking to improve and build on strong foundations, we are constantly reviewing how we work.
‘In the current economic climate we are very clear that where we can make efficiency savings and achieve more for less, then we should.
‘We have a strong regional structure and well-established local relationships and I am confident that this new top structure means we remain fit for purpose as a national agency that works locally.’
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Readers' comments (11)
1 in a 100 | 18/05/2010 8:41 pm
Who says you cant save money in the public sector, thats £2m towards the 1 in a 100 goal set by Cameron. Only £598 million to go!
Pretty good move by the HCA start the cuts at the top, shame some may end up in Milton Keynes but central london as we know is expensive.
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cynical | 19/05/2010 9:21 am
why were these people in post in the first place??? if they are not needed it was typical over staffing in the civil service. I have noticed that every meeting thats required by HCA needs 2 or more of their staff to attend.... can they not make a decision on their own or provide good feedback to colleagues.
Keep this up, less bureaucrats- more action - long live flatter structures
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Srant Ghapps | 19/05/2010 9:53 am
Given the "no grant on section 106" murmors emerging from the HCA I wonder what everyone will be doing there? Easily a few more million to be bagged from this overblown quango. I assume Sir Bob will take a lead from govt, and reduce the salary bill immediately and cap salary increases for the term of this parliament
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dothemath | 19/05/2010 10:20 am
@1 in a 100 - that would be £5,998 million to go. Still, a start nonetheless.
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In a Pickle | 19/05/2010 10:48 am
The first cut is not necessarily the deepest.
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michael read | 19/05/2010 11:37 am
It's not gonna save them. All of the stuff of the meetings' wallahs can be put on a 1mb Word file which can be abandoned on the E drive on a lowly civil servants laptop.
Sir Robert Carslake? Why not just plain Bob.
The party's over.
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stopwastingourmoney | 19/05/2010 11:52 am
I presume this is a pre-emptive cost-cutting measure to head off any attempt to close the HCA? If so, it doesn't go nearly far enough. Hopefully Grant Shapps will take urgent action to cut the waste in the sector.
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Harry Lime | 19/05/2010 1:19 pm
Why the surprise? Any govt agency could chose to do the same, the question is what are the implications for service delivery, but also retention of knowledge and expertise. Theoretically a move from London should hapen with ALL govt agencies, but the truth is a majority of staff won't move so the knowledge and operational efficiency suffers. Obviously this would only be a temporary blip, but if it was to happen, any cost savings in the short term would be negated by the redundancy and relocation bills.
As for why haven't the cuts happened sooner, the simple answer is they weren't put under pressure to do so, so why would they? If VAT inevitably goes up to 20% but some retailers swallow the increase will people be enraged because they've clearly been profiting from this extra 2.5% that they could have passed on in reduced prices? They haven't lowered their prices previously because they weren't under pressure to do so. It's human nature, not rocket science.....
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Anonymous | 19/05/2010 11:20 pm
When Labour came to power in 97 quango expenditure totaled £45b. This year it is approximately £170b . Allow for some inflation and cut the quangos to 1997 levels and I reckon we can save a quick £100b.
Anecdotally I have first hand comment from person running a small
quango in London. His annual budget was raised 10 fold 2 years ago - He asked the Audit Commission to check his annual accounts this year only to be told they didn't bother for figures under £20m. My MP is George Osborne . He needs to get out and have a drink with his local constituents in Alderley Edge. Plenty of local businessmen
having a hard time will put him in the right direction.
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Anonymous | 20/05/2010 9:41 pm
For a new organisation which was established just 16 months ago the HCA should be given credit for not only delivering it's annual targets, but achieved them in what has been one of the most difficult periods in decade. Well done.
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