Twelve bosses leave Northumberland Council

Posted by The Journal on Mar 31, 10 11:15 AM in Councils

Twelve senior managers are leaving Northumberland County Council, which has already axed hundreds of posts as part of multi-million pound budget reductions.

The latest move - which involves a major management restructuring exercise at Northumberland County Council - is aimed at saving the unitary authority up to ÃÂ£1.5m a year.

It has been on the cards since the old county council and its six district authorities were abolished and the new single organisation created a year ago.

The 12 officers are all due to leave this week as consultations start on a new, slimmed-down management structure at County Hall in Morpeth.

Trevor Doughty, the executive director of people, and Jill Dixon, executive director of performance, are the most senior members of staff to volunteer to leave the authority.

The cull of senior management follows two years in which the new super council has made budget savings of more than ÃÂ£40m and got rid of about 900 more junior posts.

Yesterday Liberal Democrat leader, Jeff Reid, said: "Obviously, losing these 12 officers will have an impact because they are good people who have seen the organisation through a very difficult period. Hopefully we will now come up with a structure that will deliver more for less at a very difficult time for local government.

"This is also a way of helping to protect front-line services from future savings. Trevor Doughty has played a vital role in the running of the new council in a very important area of operations. Jill Dixon was also instrumental in the transition to a complex new council."

Conservative group leader, Peter Jackson, said: "We are pleased they have finally got round to facing up to the issue of having too many managers, but there have been cuts to services in the latest budget which would not have been necessary if this had been done earlier."

Mr Doughty, who has worked for the county council since 2004, said: "I'm extremely proud of what's been achieved in children's services over the past five years. It's particularly pleasing that Northumberland has moved from a bottom 10% performer to a top-10 performer nationally."

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