Published on:
25
February 2019
The Council Chief Executive has presented an update to the Council (28 February) outlining progress made on the organisational redesign, which has introduced a more streamlined structure and a reduction in tiers of management.
The report outlined developments on initial plans that were approved as part of the budget approved in March 2018. Since then, plans have been developed to develop the Council into an organisation which looks outward to be proactive about improvement and innovation, and three new service delivery portfolios have been introduced: People; Place and Partnership & Performance. The number of chief officers has now been reduced from nine to four, with a total budget saving of £765,000 expected to be made from the restructure, and progress is being made on the redesign of senior manager roles.
The Strategic Directors of the three delivery portfolios have been reviewing their service areas to develop draft designs for delivery models which have a customer focus and maximise opportunities for integrating services and delivering efficiencies. The structure agreed last year proposed reducing the senior managers from 23 to 15, and a draft design for management portfolios has been produced, which is being used as the basis for a formal consultation with affected staff and the trade unions.
Council Leader Cllr Ellen Forson commented: “To ensure that we continue to deliver essential services to our communities and improve the Council’s financial sustainability, we must change the way we deliver those services and work more closely with our partners. I was pleased to see this update coming to Council, and look forward to continued progress towards improving the organisation’s service delivery and efficiency.”