A major shake up of senior management at Wolverhampton City Council will save taxpayers £502,000.

Cabinet councillors will be asked to back the restructure when they meet on Wednesday 12November.

They will receive a report from new managing director Keith Ireland in which a vision to transform the council into a performance led business is set out.

He is proposing a simplified senior management structure which places the focus on delivering the council's corporate plan.

As has already widely been reported, the council has recently replaced the role of chief executive with that of a managing director in a move that has saved £195,000.

The proposed further senior management restructure will save an additional £307,000 through the deletion of 4 posts and the creation of a centralised hub to manage transactions across the council.

Councillor Roger Lawrence, leader of Wolverhampton City Council, said: "We are managing the most difficult financial challenge in our history - but we remain hugely ambitious for the future of Wolverhampton.

"We are planning to create a leaner and more focused senior management structure that will ensure the council is best placed to perform and deliver the priorities of our residents.

"The proposal to Cabinet next week would mean we've saved in excess of £1.7 million in senior management costs since 2010."

The structure Cabinet will be asked to endorse next week would see the existing directorates of Office of the Chief Executive, Delivery, Community and Education and Enterprise replaced with three simple areas of Corporate, People and Place.

Employees at the council would be led by 3 strategic directors - the managing director, strategic director for people and strategic director for place - supported by directors for education, finance and governance and service directors responsible for specific areas of the organisation.

  • released: Wednesday 5 November, 2014