Notting Hill redundancies spark anger

The employees at Notting Hill are angry about the selection process for the redesigned housing officer jobs being rolled out across the organisation. A total of 135 staff, including housing officers, surveyors, managers, call centre workers and income collection staff, went through selection tests, including role play with an actor, an in-tray exercise and an interview covering competencies.

Several staff who failed the tests said the questions were unrelated to housing skills. One example included a role play of advising a tenant on setting up a business. They added they were told they could appeal the test procedure up to two days after the test but could not appeal the results, which took five weeks to arrive.

One member of staff who preferred to remain anonymous said: ‘The assessment had nothing to do with housing ability. They are getting rid of housing staff and will take on call centre staff and train them to be housing officers.’

A spokesperson for Notting Hill said about 45 staff had not got jobs in the restructured organisation currently. But she added some may yet get jobs elsewhere in the organisation.

The restructure will see the association move away from specialist teams covering jobs like repairs and income collection and bring all work for each geographical area under the control of a housing officer.

The spokesperson added: ‘We have been very clear that people are being assessed on a range of behavioural competencies rather than their housing experience.’ She said the organisation was open to considering an appeal of the assessment process. She said staff had been offered training on how to approach the assessments.

A spokesperson for the TSA confirmed the regulator had received a complaint letter but it was primarily a matter for the association’s board.