Nickie Aiken 

STAFF at Westminster Council are each to get an extra day off work next year – on their birthdays.

The goodwill gesture was announced by leader Cllr Nickie Aiken at the full council meeting at Porchester Hall on Wednesday night.

She said she wanted to thank them all for the hard work they put in the aftermath of the fire at Grenfell Tower.

Cllr Aiken praised staff for their “outstanding” contribution and the extra shifts and hours they put in following the disaster, adding: “Our exceptional staff have demonstrated exactly the kind of strength that I hope you will be able to take from such unspeakable tragedies.

“I am delighted to be able to pay them back in a small way. It has been decided that as a thank you to all staff, whether they worked on Grenfell Tower or not, we in the 2018/19 calendar year are going to give every member of staff an extra day off. And that day is going to be their birthday.”

Cllr Aiken also updated the meet- ing on the work that had been done, which included reviewing fire safety assessments and hand-delivering letters to residents in the borough across high-rises, since the fire.

Cllr Aiken said fire safety plans had been set up for 41 tower blocks. She also assured that any decisions made on how to improve fire safety further would have “nothing to do with cost”.

Much of the focus had centred on six tower blocks in Little Venice, which had had works done to them by Harley Façades, the same company that had worked on the cladding in Grenfell Tower.

While cladding in Little Venice was not the same as in Grenfell, as it contained non-flammable Rockwool panels, like all other cladding across the country sent for testing, it had failed fire safety tests.

Cllr Aiken said they were now working with specialists to find the best solution for dealing with the cladding and that their decision would have “nothing to do with cost”.

“We are prepared to have the cladding removed, but doing this could potentially cause other issues for residents, during major works that could last years. We are also looking at bringing in additional fire safety measures such as replacing some of the cladding to provide further breaks on the building.

She added: “We are confident our buildings are safe, but we want to make them even safer so we are going further than housing regulations by installing sprinklers in existing blocks. Introducing any new fire safety measure and completing any work required by the London Fire Brigade will be done regardless of cost.”