Northumberland council leader stands by pledge to cut £1 million from wage bill

This is despite a long-awaited review into senior management structure at the council failing to deliver significant savings.

Cllr Glen Sanderson made the pledge earlier this year after it was revealed that the council was paying huge sums to a large number of top officers.

Figures obtained by the Taxpayer’s Alliance showed that 20 employees were receiving more than £100,000 a year – the highest of any council in the North East.

Speaking at the time, Cllr Sanderson explained that he was looking to review the council’s executive structure in order to make savings.

On Tuesday, the revised structure was presented to members of the council’s staff and appointments committee.

Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Sanderson said: “We have spent a significant amount of time looking at an executive structure. We want to take this to full council tomorrow and we want your views.

“It is an extremely important step because it is time we looked at more permanent posts, and also keeping some very good, trusted officers and getting some new blood in as well.

“I did make a pledge to save £1m from staff salaries this year and we will do that.”

However, according to the report presented to the committee, the new structure will save just £6,000. It notes that the new structure will cost £1.438 million, while the corresponding posts in the existing structure cost £1.444 million.

The report adds that while these figures are “broadly comparable”, savings of £303,000 have been made by getting rid of the posts of legal services manager and director of HR and Organisational Development, with those savings going towards the £1m management savings target.

The report acknowledges that, if the new structure is agreed, the “entirety of the £1m savings will have to be found through changes at tier 3 and beyond if the cost of the overall senior management structure is to be contained within the budgeted financial envelope”.

Under the new proposals, the position of deputy chief executive will be scrapped, while the current interim officers in place across a number of departments will be replaced with five executive directors. These are:

Executive Director Place & Regeneration Executive Director Transformation& Resources (Section 151 Officer) Executive Director Adults, Ageing & Wellbeing (Director of Adult Services) Executive Director Children, Young People & Education (Director of Children’s Services) Executive Director Public Health, Inequalities & Stronger Communities (Director of Public Health).

Each of those positions will have salaries set at more than £100,000. The report states that, given the size of the council, there was “no feasible option” to reduce the number of executive directors below five.

It comes after the council offered all staff the opportunity to apply for voluntary redundancy, after blaming inflation and rising fuel costs for a £17m financial black hole projected in this year’s accounts.

The proposals will go before full council on Wednesday.