Council management shake-up short of £1m savings target

At the full council meeting, Councillor Gwilym Williams enquired how much money had the senior management shake up, which saw eight posts axed, actually saved?

He was told that the council will know the full savings following a review.

Councillor Williams asked: “The acting chief executive (Mohammed Mehmet) stated in full council that there was to be a restructure of senior management saving of approximately £1 million.

“I understand that this amount has not been saved.

“Can the portfolio holder inform me what the figure is of savings in senior management?

Deputy leader and finance portfolio holder, Councillor Aled Davies, answered: “Of the £1 million saving proposed for the 2019/20 financial year, £440,000 has been achieved to date.

“An update on the delivery of the remaining balance will be reviewed at the end of the first quarter (April 1 to July 1).”

Councillor Williams asked a follow up question: “Obviously this was something that was promised a long time ago in council.

“I assume you will make up the difference to around £1 million; can you tell me which departments will that be made up from?

Councillor Davies replied: “There were three elements to the restructuring of the senior leadership team.

“The second element was in the reduction in the number of PAs (personal assistants) for the senior leadership team.

“Both those have been achieved and those are the savings of £440,000.

Councillor Davies continued: “The third element of that is a reduction across all tiers of management of approximately 20 per-cent.”

“The remaining reductions were not specified but some services are already making those reductions and attributing them to service savings.”

The new structure saw the existing senior management team reduced from its current 24 posts over four management tiers.

There are now a chief executive, three corporate directors and 12 heads of service, operating over three tiers.

When the restructure to slim down the senior management was being worked on earlier this year, acting chief executive Mohammed Mehmet (who left in March) believed the savings would exceed the initial figure of £1 million.

At one stage it was thought that the the savings could be as much as £1.3 million.

The changes came into force on March 1.

In recent weeks the last piece of the reorganisation was completed when Clint Middleton started in his role as head of digital and communication services.