New management structure proposes further savings at Telford & Wrekin Council

The proposals will be considered by the Council’s cabinet on Thursday and, subject to backing from the Council later this month, would pave the way to recruit to a new Managing Director role to replace the post of Chief Executive.

The move would reduce the number of senior managers at the Council from 28 in 2009 to 13.

The report says that the Managing Director post will be key to helping Telford & Wrekin become a Co-operative Council much more closely connected to its community.

This also reflects changes since May in the role of the Council Leader, who now has a much more prominent role with responsibility for all key council decisions.

It is proposed that the Managing Director post is paid £137,000 a year, around £13,000 less than the Chief Executive role and around 15 per cent less than the Chief Executive was paid in 2009.

The report also highlights a number of other changes to the Council’s senior management team and it recommends that another four senior management posts are deleted, while Corporate Directors salaries would also reduce from £118,000 to around £109,000.

Council Leader Kuldip Sahota said: “The Cabinet has been clear that it wants a new structure for senior management that will help to further support our move to a Co-operative Council that is more closely connected with its community.

“The creation of a Managing Director post will be key to achieving this and ensuring that our senior management team reflects more closely to the Co-operative Council model.”

Bringing forward proposals for the senior management review was one of the key tasks for the Interim Chief Executive Richard Partington on his appointment at the start of August.

If backed by the Cabinet and at Full Council later this month, the Council would aim to begin to recruit to the Managing Director post as quickly as possible.