As Salford City Council pushes through cuts of £56million over the next two years, it's about to fund two new Fat Cats with salaries over £100,000 to drive through, what it calls, its "ambitious transformation programme" - which, it states, will carry on into a third year even though no-one knows who the government will be, nor the state of the economy and council grants after May this year.
"To deliver the scale of transformation, at the pace necessary to realise service benefits and financial efficiencies, is crucial" a report to the Council's Workforce Panel states. And to do this, it needs new Fat Cats. So the Council intends to appoint someone internally to Director of Service Reform and Development, on a two year contract, with a salary that will "exceed £100,000".
And to also "deliver on the transformation agenda" (cuts) the current Chief Financial Officer, of course, also needs a hike in wages so he's going to be `re-graded' and given the fancy new title of Director of Finance and Corporate Business, also on a salary that will "exceed £100,000", an increase for him of £12,000 a year – taken from the revenue budget from which public services are cutting being axed.
The "ambitious transformation programme" - or "significant redesign and transformation of all areas of the Council" – includes privatisation, outsourcing and cuts, and a report to the Workforce Panel highlights six particular areas highlighted by consultants PWC
These six areas are due for cuts totalling £38.7million over the next three years and include "a review of all services for residents who are 0-25; a review of Looked After Children budgets and placements; and proposals to develop an integrated neighbourhood model".
To make sure everything runs `lawfully' Salford Council is also intending to appoint a new Assistant Director for Legal and Governance – as recommended by the Council's Audit and Accounts Committee back in November 2014, after Salford Mayor Ian Stewart became involved in the £164,000 Salford Reds scandal of Vickersgate (see previous Salford Star article – click here).
The new post will involve providing "scrutiny of the development and review of
the Council's information security and risk management controls and access to
information arrangements", with a salary between £66,788 - £73,468.
Also in the pipeline is a new Assistant Director Specialist Services who will, no doubt implement the cuts to services for disabled children and adults, and be rewarded with a salary between £74,832 and £82,317.
The three jobs involved in the `transformation agenda', will, states the report, "produce an increase in overall cost of £76,000" – but because "there are vacant management posts in the current structure which have been held vacant pending this senior management review" the Council is spinning it as a saving of £141,000 (if pensions and other bonuses and who knows what are added in).
What is not factored in is the cost of hiring PWC consultants to come up with these plans. PWC was paid £78,000 for two months to "support internal 'tranformational' work" (see previous Salford Star article – click here).
Salford Council and the Mayor need to get these new Fat Cat posts in place as soon as possible or, it states, "there could be a risk in losing momentum in achieving the pace and scale of change in our delivery arrangements, and ultimately in realising
the necessary financial savings".
Residents might well be feeling that the Council's culling of Council public services is `too soon, too fast and too deep', to borrow a phrase from Salford Mayor, Ian Stewart... And the new Fat Cats will be laughing all the way to the bank.
Fat Cat graphic by Steven Speed
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
(3).jpeg)
.png)
(1).JPG)
