COUNCIL CUTS: Squeeze on top management jobs saves about £3m (From Herald Series)

COUNCIL CUTS: Squeeze on top management jobs saves about £3m

9:00am Wednesday 20th February 2013 in News

TAXPAYERS saved about £3m after a string of top council management jobs were cut over a year, new figures show.

Research by The TaxPayers’ Alliance shows there were 274 managers across six local authorities in Oxfordshire in the 2011/12 financial year, down by 59 from 2010/11.

This cost taxpayers £18.1m, down from £21.1m the previous year.

The biggest drop was at Oxfordshire County Council, down from 255 to 203, a saving of £2.6m. The county council is the biggest authority in Oxfordshire.

Spokesman Owen Morton said: “The council has undergone significant structural changes which were necessary due to the economic climate and central government’s policy to reduce local government spending.

“This process involved a review of our management structures which has resulted in a reduction in the number of posts.”

Oxford City Council cut two managers to give it 33 senior posts, a saving of £90,000. Its final bill was about £2.4m.

Posts fell from 19 to 14 to Cherwell District Council, cutting £130,000 from its senior management bill, which was about £1m to 2011/12.

Spokesman Jemma Callow said: “The savings are a direct result of Cherwell District and South Northamptonshire Councils’ joint management team which was introduced during the 2011/ 2012 financial year.”

This is set to save Cherwell £3.4m over five years.

The figures showed South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse district councils retained the same number of managers, costing £742,500.

West Oxfordshire District Council also kept 13 managers, costing £867,500.