Express & Star

£10k spent on consultants in Dudley Council management shake-up

Almost £10,000 was spent on consultants brought in to cut £1 million from Dudley Council's management budget, it has emerged.

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The authority is slashing the number of senior management posts from 22 to 11 as it battles to find up to £57million of savings within three years.

The move has proved controversial after it emerged the remaining 11 manager positions would be on increased salaries.

See also: Interim council director to be brought in on hundreds of pounds a day.

Consultants from Oldbury-based West Midlands Employers were paid £9,600 excluding VAT for their work, according to a Freedom of Information request by the Express & Star.

This work included consultation meetings with councillors, employees and the external audit and 'research and analysis'.

Council officials were also billed by the consultants for the development of all options, presentations to councillors and staff and attendance at staff consultation meetings.

Today, opposition councillors have hit out at the cost of the consultation.

But Dudley Council deputy leader, Councillor Pete Lowe, today said the costs were justified.

"It was imperative that external consultants were brought in to drive our work around the senior management review as it would not have been appropriate to ask the senior managers to carry out a review of their own positions," said the Labour councillor.

"The spend of less than £10,000 represents exceptional value for money when you consider it has resulted in a restructure which will save the council £1million and give us the leanest management team in the country."

See also: Lights off, burial fees to rise, and jobs at risk in proposed £27m Dudley Council cuts.

But conservative group leader, Councillor Patrick Harley, added: "The Conservative Group in 2012 had plans to reduce the size and cost of the council. These plans could have been carried out without spending a small fortune on consultants."

Under the scheme, which was approved earlier this month, five directors, who are in charge of departments, earning £104,604 per year, would be replaced by three 'strategic' directors.

The new 'strategic director for people' who manages children's services, adult social care and health and well being, will command a salary of between £122,500 and £130,000.

Salaries for the other two positions – director of resources and transformation and director for the environment, economy and housing – could be around £117,000 and £127,000.

The 17 assistant directors, currently earning £70,049 a year, will be replaced by eight chief officer posts earning £89,000 under the scheme.

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