New pay grades for bosses at Walsall Council approved
New pay grades for managers at Walsall Council have been approved by councillors this week.
The review was announced alongside a controversial restructure of the senior management positions.
The changes to pay remove any overlapping pay grades and create grades for directors, deputy directors, and head of service posts.
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But some members at the full council on July 30 said they weren’t fully convinced by the changes.
Councillor Aftab Nawaz, leader of the Independent group at Walsall Council, said: “As I said in my previous speech on the new restructure, there are questions remaining about why it’s necessary to have the restructure.
“Initially, we were told we’d save £750,000, but looking at this report, it seems the savings will be just under £300,000. Added costs of voluntary redundancies will eat into this as well. The question is, will this exercise save us money or cost us money? In the end, I’m not fully convinced.”
Councillor Bobby Bains said: “A lot of our residents would look at this and see the sheer amount of management we’ve got in Walsall.
“You’ve got the chief executive, executive directors, directors, deputy directors and then reporting to them are the head of services. Since when did the public sector become like a private organisation?”
Councillor Ram K Mehmi said: “I wonder if we save money in the first year, second or third, if we’re hiring interim which costs us more money.”
Defending the changes, leader of the authority Councillor Mike Bird said the main purpose of doing the adjustments is to prevent the council from being subjected to equal pay claims.
He said: “Other councils, such as Birmingham, have had a massive bill for equal pay claims. Equalising the pay takes that opportunity away.
“We are very frugal with our finances and and we’ve got a fantastic finance team. Without them, this council doesn’t run.
“Without having your hands on finances, you don’t control the council, and that’s why I’ve always done the finances myself.
“We are not the most prolific council when it comes to pay. There are councils out there paying more money for our staff.
“If they haven’t got the opportunity of staying within this council and earning a better salary, what will they do? They’ll look further to other councils where they do offer better pay.
“When we look at this organisation, we deliver 1,350 services every single day, some of those 24 hours. As a result, the council is a business, that’s the way I treat it.
“Whatever colour the government is, you aren’t going to get any more money and you need to do more with what you’ve got.
“This senior management review was needed to look at how the council will fare going forward.”
