A MASSIVE staff and management shake-up at Waverley Borough Council is on the cards next year which could see the number of staff on its books cut by 30 per cent. It will tie in with the controversial plans to transfer its housing stock to a housing association and will help the council find the cash needed to plug a £1 million funding deficit. As previously reported, Waverley has taken the decision to sell off its 5,200 council homes and transfer them to a new housing association. The association, set up by the council, would then bring the homes up to a decent standard - something Waverley does not have the cash to do. However, the move still has to clear a major hurdle before it is set in stone - it has to be agreed by the council's existing tenants. Should the stock transference go ahead there will be a major staffing change in the council's housing department as result of its responsibilities changing. This could see almost a third of the council's existing staff having their jobs moved to a housing association and cuts being made to those who stay. However, if the transference does not get the green light the council is promising change to "streamline" itself to make the massive savings. The council has been delaying taking radical cost-cutting steps to fill the void until the outcome of the future of its houses is known and has been plugging the gap with its reserves. A report to next Tuesday's meeting of Waverley Borough Council's executive will say that an expenditure review had been carried out and so far savings totalling £394,000 a year have already been made over the past two years. The council was also in the process of carrying out a review of its management structure and the way its departments are organised with the possibility of redundancies on the cards to save cash. However, massive savings could be found should the stock transfer goes ahead with some council staff transferring to the new housing association. There could also be a shake-up of the remaining housing department and its staff. As a result the council is now looking at putting a hold on its organisational review and tie it together with the stock transfer ballot result.
