Ceredigion Lib Dems say that the Council hiring a new Deputy Chief Executive is a ‘slap in the face’ for its council staff.

In a Council meeting on Tuesday, June 23, members agreed to make efficiency savings by restructuring the Council’s Senior Management.

The Council has already made budget savings of £24 million over the past three years, and will have to find similar savings over the next three years.

It is anticipated that restructuring Senior Management will put the Council in a better position to make these savings.

The Leadership Group will remain a five officer Group for the next 18-24 months.

The retirement of the Strategic Director for Corporate Resources presents an opportunity to introduce a new Deputy Chief Executive post.

The holder of this new post will act as the lead on the transformation of the Council’s Services and the successful delivery of programmes to identify the budgetary cuts and savings.

Cllr Elizabeth Evans said: “The decision to create this new post of Deputy Chief Executive at a salary of £98,000 is a slap in the face for every member of staff in the council at a time when they are all looking to their own job security.

“This is nothing more than a vanity appointment without any justification. The council are facing more savage cuts and are withdrawing vital services which affect all our residents, yet they choose to fatten the leadership group when the council is actually reducing in size.”

The number of Strategic Directors will be reduced from three to two after a period of 18-24 months. And the number of Heads of Service will be reduced from 10 to 9.

There would be a saving of approximately £115,000 per annum in 18-24 months with the deletion of a Strategic Director post, in addition to the immediate saving of £103,00 that will be made by the deletion of a Head of Service and further restructuring.

Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn, Leader of Ceredigion County Council, said: “This restructuring will be of great benefit to the Council to better position itself to enable the identification of further £24 million savings over the next few years. By September 2015, the Council will have reduced the number of its Senior Management by 48% since April 2007.”

Cllr Ceredig Davies responded to the decision saying: “Sighting additional workload and responsibilities in order to justify the creation of a new post of Deputy Chief Executive, with the inherent increase in salary, does a disservice to all those Ceredigion staff who have been asked over recent months to take on more work but denied any additional remuneration. It was for this reason that the Lib Dem councillors voted against the administration's proposal to create the post of Deputy Chief Executive."