A top council job in Derbyshire could be axed as part of a move to save more than £300,000 a year.
Derbyshire County Council is considering a proposal to do away with the role of the chief executive and to reduce its top team from five to four senior directors.

If approved the plans would result in two existing top-tier posts being abolished in addition to that of chief executive and a single new post, a strategic director of commissioning, communities and policy, being created instead. This new role would focus on making sure the county council provided quality services which were good value for money.



The county council has to cut its budget by £34m this year. By 2021/22 it needs to slash up to £80 million needs to be cut. It comes after the amount of money it receives from the Government has been cut and so its budgets have to be reduced.

Councillor Barry Lewis, leader of Derbyshire County Council, said: “We must be prepared to be bold and constantly look for savings which will help us to continue to provide high quality frontline services in Derbyshire.

“For many years the county council has operated a fairly traditional management model and the time is now right to review our internal leadership structure to meet the new challenges ahead and the ever-changing demands on local councils.

“While the proposal to consider managing without a chief executive may seem unusual, in fact this leadership team approach has already been operated by other councils across the country and we are confident it would work for Derbyshire.”



The council is currently consulting with affected employees.

A decision on the new management model is expected to be made by Full Council later this summer and, if approved, the new structure will be implemented towards the end of the year.

Current chief executive Ian Stephenson earned £140,749 in 2014-2015.