A staff restructure at Thanet council is due to be completed by the end of March.
The authority is undergoing a “corporate restructure,” which was revealed by The Isle of Thanet News last October when Thanet council’s Director of Community Services, Rob Kenyon, took voluntary redundancy from his role.
Members of the council’s General Purposes Committee discussed proposed changes to the corporate structure at TDC in November.
Representations were made by Helen Havercroft, head of growth and development, and Bob Porter, head of housing.
In response to a Freedom of Information request from The Isle of Thanet News, TDC confirmed staff are in consultation but a spokesman said information on departments and the number of employees involved could not be released as the process is ongoing.
‘Staff consultation’
The spokesman said: “The council can confirm it is currently undergoing a corporate restructure and there has been consultation with staff.
“The council cannot provide any further information at this time because final decisions and implementation of the restructuring and any potential redeployments or redundancies have not been concluded. The council aims to complete the process by the end of March.
“The council is mindful that staff who may be affected by the restructure are liaising with their managers on a strictly confidential basis in accordance with established HR procedures and TDC, as their employer, has a duty of trust and confidence to not disclose to the wider public information relating to their employment beyond that which is necessary.
“As the process is not complete the council do not want to disclose information that may be inaccurate. This would not only be misleading to the public but distressful to council employees leading to concern and unrest on the part of employees (and) affecting the proper operation and delivery of council functions.”
£2million savings
A statement issued by TDC following the departure of Mr Kenyon confirmed that the restructure was being carried out due to the need for TDC to make savings of £2million per year.
In the statement Thanet council said: “As the East Kent merger did not materialise, the council needs to save an additional £2million per annum and Rob appreciates that delivering further efficiency savings will require significant restructuring.”
Currently there are four members of the TDC corporate management team; Chief Executive Madeline Homer; Director of operational services, Gavin Waite; Director of corporate governance, Tim Howes and Director of corporate resources, Tim Willis.
TDC said suggestions circulating on social media that Chief Executive Madeline Homer would be leaving her post were “completely incorrect.”
However, it has been confirmed that Tim Willis will be the Deputy Chief Executive from April 2018.
Overall TDC employs around 700 people.
Just wondering are you going to fix the toilet now.
Let the Chief Executive go …That will save many many Thousands of pounds ….
As usual, protect the management and cut the workers.
Get rid of the middle management who do nothing and cost a fortune and employ workers.
Cut senior management to 2 this should save 200k.