The boss of a new Grenfell Tower task force at Kensington & Chelsea council will become one of the borough’s highest paid officials on a salary of more than £100,000.
The appointee will head the council’s Grenfell team of 200 staff. It is due to start work before Christmas to deal with residents’ “housing and welfare” needs following the disaster in June which killed at least 80 people. The role is expected to last almost two years, and will make the incumbent among the 10 highest paid executives in the council — earning at least triple the London average salary.
The council has been heavily criticised for being slow to rehouse families and offer support. Its new approach includes moves to scrap the Kensington & Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, which residents said brushed away concerns about the deadly cladding that fuelled the fire.
The task force, which is due to be agreed tomorrow by the council’s administration committee, forms part of what new chief executive Barry Quirk calls a “compassionate and personalised” service for survivors. Mr Quirk described it as a “major programme of change through the organisation which will have the Grenfell response and recovery at its centre”.
He pledged an urgent “change of culture, style of working and approach”, saying it needs to “rebuild trust”.
“Many hundreds of people”, including 200 children, are still living in hostels as they wait for housing, often families in one room. About 100 homes “have been made available” near Olympia and Chelsea football club, Mr Quirk said.
Mr Quirk said: “The organisation is unable to respond properly to the intensity of the challenge of the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire through conventional ways of working.”
He added: “To take action we need the right people to work with us and the right people to work for us.”
Inside Grenfell Tower
Sue Caro, campaign co-ordinator for Justice4Grenfell, said: “It’s a huge job, they have to get the right person.”
Asked about the large salary, she said: “I think it won’t be well received by a lot of people who are still suffering terribly from their current situation.
“If they get someone really competent for that money then things will start to change, but it remains to be seen.” Ms Caro added: “There’s a huge issue around regaining any kind of trust and confidence in the council.
“Unfortunately, the statements sound great but the reality is that despite all of his extremely positive statements, we still cannot even get a response to an email asking for a meeting.
“People with severe trauma are not being supported. The lack of compassion and empathy has been a major issue from day one of this disaster.”
Labour MP for Kensington Emma Dent Coad said: “I am pleased to see that the council is finally stepping up with a new approach and potentially a ‘new culture’.”
