Nine managers to lose Newcastle Council jobs
Jun 30 2009 by Amy Hunt, The Journal
HIGHLY-PAID officers will leave a council in a major restructure agreed by councillors last night.
Newcastle City Council’s acting chief executive Barry Rowland wants to cut nine senior managers and 60 managers from the central part of the council, to save £2.9m a year.
It is part of a shake-up of the whole structure of the council which is looking to cut 510 posts to save £169m over the next five years.
Members of the council’s constitutional committee agreed to approve moves to scrap the posts of assistant chief executive, city treasurer, head of organisational development and head of legal services and replace them with three directors of resources, policy, strategy and communications and corporate services. The three directors’ posts will have a salary scale of £97,794 to £113,369.
It was agreed the current city treasurer Paul Woods be given the role of director of resources. The other posts will be covered in the interim by existing staff while permanent appointments are made.
In total nine staff earning more than £60,000 a year will see their roles made redundant as part of a drive to save cash in the face of huge predicted cuts in public funding over the next few years.
Mr Rowland said: “The senior staff affected by this have been involved in the discussions and are happy about it.
“This will allow us to have a much tighter, much better centre of the council which I think will advance the authority.”
At a meeting of the committee questions were asked about whether a sufficient number of staff would be left in the chief executives office, where 60 staff will leave, to run the council effectively.
The council’s opposition leader, Labour councillor Nick Forbes said: “I have a concern that what this new structure does is leave the organisation extremely light and that there won’t be enough strength at the top to fulfil functions like audit and governance processes and to support members. My concern is that there’s simply not enough capacity to run the top of the organisation effectively.”
Labour councillor Sir Jeremy Beecham said he was worried about the role of head of legal services being scrapped in favour of two more junior posts, head of commercial and corporate law.
Mr Rowland said: “At all stages there has been a detailed assessment of impact and whether we can maintain services at this level. I will make no secret of the fact that people will have to work harder and more intelligently.”
Liberal Democrat councillor Anita Lower said: “I think this is a real step forward. It’s positive it’s clear and I think we should get on with it as soon as possible.”
The city council is preparing to wave goodbye to staff who have accepted voluntary redundancy as part of the transformation programme.
The first wave of staff who have agreed a redundancy package with the council will leave their jobs in July, with more to go in September.
Council bosses say they have worked with staff and trade unions to make sure workers are consulted on the changes.
