Norfolk council to save £250k by not replacing officers

Simon George, the council's executive director of finance and commercial services is to leave the authority in April, with Helen Edwards, the council's director of governance having already left.

Simon George, finance director at Norfolk County Council (Image: Norfolk County Council)

The departure of two of the most senior executives at the Conservative-controlled council comes as it prepares to make cuts and savings to tackle a funding gap of £60m.

At a council meeting this week, councillors are set to agree to 'delete' the posts as part of a strategic review of the authority, which saw external consultants brought in.

A report which will go before the council's employment committee states: "As part of the strategic review, we have revised our organisational design principles to increase our operational efficiency and identify duplication of activity.

"This will enable us to reduce the number of management layers and improve spans of control.

"As part of this process, it has been concluded that the director of governance and executive director of finance and commercial services posts could be deleted from our senior management structure, yielding a material and ongoing cost-saving without any reduction in service.

"This also removes a layer from the senior management team and creates an opportunity to use our succession plan for these roles with our own talent."

Norfolk County Council's County Hall headquarters in Norwich. Pic: Mike Page (Image: Mike Page)

The report states that £250,000 will be saved by deleting the two posts.

Mr George, who has been in post since May 2015 and oversees the council's £2bn plus budget, also held the role of Section 151 officer at the council - responsible for ensuring the council conducts its financial affairs properly.

The council is recommending that a new director of strategic finance takes on that role.