New unitary has saved £30m already
Author: Public Servant - Aug 6, 2009
The new Cheshire West and Chester Council has already saved £30m since coming into existence in April by reducing the number of management layers inherited – from the eight predecessor district authorities – from nine to five..
Although, the council is thought to have spent a similar figure on more than 230 voluntary redundancy deals, the Tory council leader Mike Jones told Public Servant that he expected another £20m in savings before the end of the financial year. Jones has planned further estate rationalisation, the introduction of flexible working, a £200m shared services project with the new Cheshire East Council and a reduction in the administration staff which currently numbers 1,000. Eventually, the council aims to reduce total expenditure by 50 per cent.
"The previous authorities had not made tough decisions about how money could be saved. We took a root and branch approach to changing the management structure," said Jones. The new staff we recruited are becoming agents of change in the organisation. We have also pinched a lot of good ideas from the top performing councils – it's a cost-effective way to do things."
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