£100,000 boss for Sandwell Council is defended by leader
Sandwell Council leader Darren Cooper has defended the authority's move to advertise for a £100,000 director - saying a planned shake-up of top brass at the council will save that amount every year.
The council has released a job advert for a director of business and commercial transformation - with a salary range of £87,200 to £101,687.
Councillor Cooper said this position 'will pay for itself many times over' and the council's reduction in senior managers in recent years has saved more than £3 million a year.
A new report ahead of the cabinet meeting on Wednesday sets out new changes to the council's senior management team, 'which will deliver an additional £100,000 saving'.
It recommends scrapping two directors' posts, upgrading the current director of adult social care to a new post as director of adult social care, health and wellbeing and also suggests setting up a new chief operations officer role in adult care - which will initially be temporary for two years.
The report states: "The proposals contained in this report and the restructuring of the council's senior management arrangements in recent years have already delivered savings in excess of £3 million per annum and will deliver an additional £100,000 saving."
Councillor Cooper said: "Our budget is going down by millions of pounds a year as the Government cuts the cash support it gives us and other councils across the country.
"We are doing all we can to protect the frontline services that the people of Sandwell need from us.
"Historically cuts in council cash have always been made at lower levels of the workforce.
"I take the view that – as our budget shrinks year on year – the cuts should also be shared among senior managers.
"Over the last five years we have already halved the number of top people we employ and out latest proposals will bring them down to an all-time low.
"We are also saving £100,000 this year in cuts to allowances for councillors. We are genuinely all in this together."
Councillor Cooper said the director of business and commercial transformation - which had been criticised by UKIP Councillor Philip Garrett - was not a new job but would fill an existing vacancy in its senior managers.
Councillor Cooper added: "Doing this will bring someone with commercial experience into the council to help us ring the cash register and raise cash towards meeting the further £30 million of cuts we are expecting over the next three years.
"It will ensure we can carry on protecting frontline services and will pay for itself many times over."
