Mark Bee

MORE than a million pounds is to be saved by Suffolk County Council which is to cull 15 of its most senior managers over the next eight months.

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The list of departures includes three assistant directors and 12 other senior managers – and is expected to save the council a total of £1.15 million a year.

A spokesman for the county said the 15 – almost all of whom earn more than £55,000 a year – are expected to leave Endeavour House between April and October.

They will be taking voluntary redundancy, the terms of which have been agreed.

The three assistant directors leaving the county are:

nPeter Tempest from the adult and community services (ACS) directorate. He has been drawing up proposals to change the way the county runs residential care for older people.

nIan Brown from the children and young people’s (CYP) directorate. He has been responsible for schools infrastructure in Suffolk.

nGuenever Pachent from ACS. She is responsible for the county’s library service and is overseeing its transfer to a new Industrial and Provident Society (IPS) in April.

The work done by those leaving the county will be re-allocated to other members of staff, or will no longer be undertaken by the council.

The £1.15 million follows on from the £1.8 million that was saved when high-earners left during re-organisations last year.

And it will contribute to a major change in the number of people employed by the county that is set to be confirmed at its budget meeting next week.

That will confirm that over the next financial year the headcount at the county will fall from almost 8,000 to 4,800.

The majority of those jobs will be transferred from the county to other bodies which will carry out council functions – like the library service – although there will be some job losses.

County council leader Mark Bee said: “I made a commitment to the people of Suffolk that the county council would take a long hard look at senior management costs to see where we could find savings.

“It’s essential that we do this before we even consider making savings on frontline services. This is precisely what we’ve done.

“With restructuring and more joined up working across the authority, we’re confident that we can continue providing the same level of service at a reduced cost.

“These can be difficult decisions to make but are ones we must take as guardians of taxpayers money.”

Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Cann said the Liberal Democrats would give the move a guarded welcome.

He said: “We have been calling for a reduction in senior managers to protect front line staff and if this is what happens that will be good for the county – but we will be watching closely to see what happens.”