Axe falls on 150 jobs at New Charter

HOUSING Association New Charter says 150 job losses at Tameside, Manchester and Nottingham have been forced by the requirement by the Government for it to reduce rents by 1% during the next four years.

The job losses account for more than a tenth of its entire 1,000 workforce.

A New Charter spokeswoman said the job losses were because of the “level of savings required”.

She said: “Workers have been offered voluntary redundancy, but a compulsory scheme has not been ruled out by the company.

“Given the level of savings which have to be found, we need to lose up to 150 jobs out of our workforce of 1,000.

“In consultation with our trades unions and employee representatives we have introduced a voluntary redundancy scheme, encouraging those people who might choose to go before we are forced to introduce a compulsory element.”

Chancellor George Osborne announced in July plans to cut social housing rents by 1% each per year in a move to reduce the country’s housing benefit bill.

Regional organiser for Unison North West John Lewis told TheBusinessDesk Mr Osborne’s plans, which will take effect from April 2016, were already creating financial difficulties for housing associations.

He said: “We are still in the formal consultation stage with New Charter.

“As it stands at the moment, the company are going through a process of encouraging people to take voluntary severance.

“We are not going to know the outcome of that for at least a couple of weeks. Most of our members are clearly quite devastated by the news.

“Many have worked for the company for a long time. There is a certain degree of anxiety as to what the future might hold for them.”