The Board already ensures that expenditures are tightly controlled. Significant additional savings have been made and some new services which add value to Members and improve income have been introduced.

However, to ensure the long term financial stability of the AVA, more action is needed and following the review and the finalisation of a new central organisation, the full time roles of Communications Manager (Jan Podsiadly), Finance Manager (Vijay Navaratnum) and Trade Association Executive (Jean-Paul Dowding) have become redundant.

In order to contain the costs of these redundancies within the current financial year, immediate action has been taken and the three concerned have now in effect left the AVA.

The remaining full time staff - Director (Janette Gledhill) and the two Quality Coordinators (Steve Collins and Simon Hill) - will be supported by the three current part time staff (Bridget Scott, Fiona Lambert and Muriel Berry) plus one further part time Accounts Clerk. Additional freelance expertise will be used for higher level financial support and for additional communications and marketing activity as required.

AVA Chairman, Barry Bennett says, “I am confident that the changes we are making will both reduce the cost base of the AVA and provide a structure that will enhance our ability to deliver increasing value for money for Members. We are fortunate to have a very professional and dedicated team in Cheam and I would ask all Members to give their support to the new organisation during this transition period.”

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