BREAKING: Highland Council declares it will save money by 'reducing management layers'

A NEW structure of the senior management of Highland Council will be implemented over the next few months, it has been announced.

The council has reduced senior and middle management posts in recent years saving more than £3.5 million and is now looking at "reducing management layers further".

The vacant director posts for care and learning and corporate resources will be deleted.

There will be new executive chief officers for departments the council describes as resources and finance; performance and governance; customer and people; education and learning; health and social care; property and housing; infrastructure and environment; and transformation and economy.

Recruitment for some of these roles starts this week.

The new senior structure is expected to be in place by the end of the year.

A council spokeswoman said the new structure will deliver savings.

She added: "The new structure will help the council to deliver its vision and objectives and achieve better outcomes. The new senior team will each have responsibility for a geographical area which will help to enhance local visibility and enable us to become better connected to communities at a local level."

Council chief executive Donna Manson said: “Feedback from staff and communities tells us we should have structures which work for all the local areas and improve communication across the organisation and with our local communities.

“This structure will help to establish strong foundations for the transformation of the council over the coming months and years. The process will involve developing talent and leadership within the council and help to increase our community capacity and partnership working.”

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