Dudley Council’s planned cull of senior managers could place a new financial burden on the authority according to the borough’s Labour opposition. With pressure mounting on the authority to fill a £34.5m budget shortfall in the coming financial year plans have been announced to reduce the number of senior officers’ jobs at the authority from 61 to 32.
The changes are predicted to cut £1.2m each year from the Conservative-led council’s wage bill. The restructure would see the removal of eight director roles to be replaced by four new group director roles to oversee core business, people, communities and growth and housing and assets.
Labour’s shadow cabinet member for finance, Cllr Shaukat Ali, told December’s extraordinary full council meeting, where the plan was launched: “There is no doubt in my mind that this restructuring will cost the council hundreds of thousands of pounds. It is unbelievable that these new positions would be offered at salaries lower than those of current directors. “There is no current proposal for where the director of finance will fit within the structure, it is glaringly obvious that this critical role must sit at the top.”
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Cllr Ali also insisted political leadership should be paramount, he added: “Leadership should flow from the top not be coloured by expensive and ill-defined restructuring. The proposed structure before us is not the right thing to lead us into the future.” Dudley ’s leader, Cllr Patrick Harley hit back at Cllr Ali, he said: “The savings in here are about £1.2m so there is not an added cost to this authority but by implementing what is proposed here I believe the savings will be far in excess of what we are declaring.
“The opposition cannot have it both ways.” Labour’s health spokesperson, Cllr Adam Aston, said: “I have some concern about the proposal to effectively downgrade the office of director of public health to the fourth tier of the structure.
“The DPH is a statutory role, it is by definition a strategic role. The Department of Health and Social Care make it clear the DPH needs an overview of the authority’s activity and the necessary degree of influence over it. “I am concerned about what message this proposal sends out about Dudley’s commitment about the vital importance of public health function.”
In a report for the meeting, Dudley’s interim chief executive, Balvinder Heran, said: “Whilst these proposals deliver financial savings, they are designed to ensure that the council is structured in such a way so that the council can best meet the challenges going forward. “The aim of the proposals presented is to provide clarity around senior management roles and decision-making accountability, with the most senior manager level becoming a clearly identifiable tier of management across the council.”
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Costs related to the restructure, including any redundancy payouts to officers as part of the restructure, will be examined in a series of Overview and Scrutiny Committee meetings at the authority starting on January 20.