Regeneration agency to slash jobs

Mar 31 2009 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A GOVERNMENT agency set up to boost the economic regeneration of the South East is to shed around a quarter of its workforce.

The South East England Development Agency (Seeda) said it would be losing around 90 of its 370 current staff following a 20% budget shortfall over the next two years.

In a statement the agency said: “The downturn has had a significant impact on Seeda’s financial resources. Funding for regional development agencies has been redirected towards measures to help businesses and home buyers survive the downturn and our budgets are reduced further as we will not now earn expected capital receipts from sale of land and properties.

“As a result, we have about £50m less than we expected to invest in our programmes over the next two years. Over the next two years we also need to save £3.6m from our administration budget. While we will reduce overheads where possible, these will mainly be taken from staff savings.”

Seeda said it forecast approximately 90 potential job losses affecting its Guildford and Chatham offices, but the exact number and location of the cuts would only be known following restructuring.

Cuts will be made through a voluntary early release scheme to be launched next month, restrictions on external recruitment and reducing temporary and interim staff costs.

The Government-funded agency was set up in 1999 to help oversee the economic and social development of the South East, covering the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and East and West Sussex.