Merged housing giant to shed jobs

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities

A recently merged housing group is to lose between 200-250 posts, according to the minutes of a council meeting.

According to the minutes of Liverpool City Council's Housing and Community Safety Select Committee meeting on 3 October, Your Housing Group CEO Brian Cronin said: "The Group currently employs approximately 1,400 people but due to rationalisation and removal of duplicate posts, approximately 200-250 posts will be lost during the coming months in view of the recent merger processes.

"Whilst this will realise efficiencies at the centre of the organisation, moves to take on new employees for the service delivery element of the business will see the creation of new posts."

Your Housing Group has claimed that the minutes have been recorded out of context. In a statement, the group said: "The group is currently in a period of transition which involves consultation with staff about changes to roles or locations and the implementation of new roles to replace existing ones. Your Housing Group is currently consulting on change for approximately 200 positions, but there is no intention to reduce the number of employees by this amount.

"Your Housing Group is managing the process to ensure sustainability of employment for the majority of staff for the future and ensuring the delivery of our promises to our customers."

A spokesman for the council said that the minutes represented what was "understood to have been said at the meeting". The council also confirmed that Your Housing Group had not as yet requested the minutes be removed or altered.

Your Housing Group came into being after the merger of Harvest Housing Group and Arena Housing in April this year.

The merger saw Arena join its stock of 14,000 homes with Harvest's 18,000 to create a joint portfolio of 32,000.

Mr Cronin was Arena's CEO before becoming the new group's leader. Kathy Cowell, former chair of Harvest, became the chair of the new group.

Mr Cronin was giving a presentation at the meeting as the invited representative of a Registered Social Landlord.