Every member of Kingston Council’s housing staff has been told to reapply for new jobs to slash costs.

The shake-up affects 149 workers, the authority said, and bosses hope it will save £283,000.

It comes as plans to merge Kingston and Richmond councils’ backroom services – themselves designed to save up to £8m a year for each council – faltered because of disagreements over how councillors’ voting decisions would be implemented.

Internal recruitment was completed in December, and external hiring will conclude in May.

Sheltered housing residents, often elderly or infirm, feared the loss of live-in wardens, who checked in with them.

John Anderson, chairman of Kingston and Surbiton UKIP, said his party had “urgently investigated this issue”.

He said: “We are told that hundreds of residents are very anxious about the changes being rushed through.”

But lead member for housing, Councillor Ian George, said: “There’s going to be no loss of any service at all. There may be a few changes of faces.”

He said that live-in wardens have not existed since 2006, but confusion may have arisen because “to all intents and purposes, they were still living there but not doing the job they were originally doing”.

Such tied accommodation agreements will come to an end over the next 18 months.

Wardens covering several sheltered accommodation sites, introduced after 2006, have been split into two teams in the latest shake-up – one to check on residents, and one to maintain buildings.

A council spokesman said: “We have reorganised our service to better meet the needs of all our residents.

“The services we offer remain the same, and the reorganisation will have a minimal impact.

“Those using our service will recognise lots of familiar faces within the teams.”

Opposition lead member for housing, Councillor Patricia Bamford, said: “I am aware of concerns.

“There is an element of change in the way the service is being provided and it won’t necessarily be appropriate for some of the existing services to be maintained in the way they are.

“It will be disruptive for some people.”

  • A major review of Kingston’s sheltered housing is in the works.

Much accommodation is outdated and some residents are forced to share toilets.

Plans to renovate or modify blocks to make sure they meet the needs of an aging population are being drawn up.

The council's head of housing, Darren Welsh, told councillors in November: “One of the issues that we will consider is, where we are looking to change the use of an older persons scheme, what the offer is in terms of supporting residents who will need to move.

“The report will also detail the support that we can offer, financial, but also the personal support and help that we can offer to very frail households in terms of helping them to move.

“The trickier issue is where we are looking to change the use of a sheltered housing scheme, where people are required to move, we may need to consider serving notices to ensure that we can free up the accomodation within a suitable timescale.”