JUST a week after Suffolk’s new interim head of communications Jill Rawlins started work at a cost of �104,000 for six months, the county council has started the process of cutting jobs in the department.

Meetings have been held with staff who may be affected by the reorganisation of the department – but some are unhappy about the way changes are being implemented.

One said: “The whole system seems totally disorganised, especially when you consider people’s jobs are at stake. At one meeting (director of resource management) Graham Dixon said that news about the changes should have trickled down from line managers – but most of the staff at the meeting had come along without knowing what was happening.

“Anyone could come along and it wasn’t clear whether their jobs were at risk or not. The whole process seems completely confused considering how important it was.”

The employee described the atmosphere among staff as “very stressed.”

However some said they did not realise they would be affected.

“Some people were looking at the job descriptions of the new posts and were trying to weigh up whether to apply for them – they didn’t seem to realise that it was those jobs or nothing,” the employee said.

A council spokeswoman said there had been meetings with staff to discuss future reorganisation but it was still early days.

Council deputy leader Jane Storey, who also holds the “transformation” portfolio at Endeavour House, said the authority would ensure any job changes were handled properly.

“There will be changes at the council but we don’t know how many jobs will affected at this stage. It is too early to know that,” she said.

When Mrs Rawlins’ appointment was confirmed two weeks ago council leader Jeremy Pembroke and chief executive Andrea Hill said she would be looking to make cuts in the communications budget of �500,000.

It later emerged these cuts would come from a total budget totalling more than �6million.