The Cabinet considered a report of the Executive Director (Finance and Resources) seeking to reconfigure existing and secure additional resources to enable delivery of the Council’s major projects and recovery journey to support the delivery of the 2050 Ambition, refreshed roadmap, outcomes, administration recovery priorities and to support the financial challenge faced by the Council to ensure that the Council’s corporate support is appropriately resourced for the future.

Recommended:-

1.    That the additional permanent resources required for this increased staffing capacity of 10 FTE at a revenue impact of £497,000 pa and to be included as part of the budget setting for 2021/22 onwards, be approved.

2.    That the estimated requirement to establish the new arrangements and any part year effect of recruitment up to £150,000 in 2020/21 is to be funded from the Business Transformation Reserve.

Resolved:-

3.    That it be noted that a consultation will be undertaken with the officers affected in line with employment law and the Council’s HR Policies.

4.    That it be noted that a combination of internal and external recruitment will be arranged to fill the posts required.

Reason for decision:

The decisions enable, subject to successful recruitment, the Council to resource the corporate enabling services to manage services more effectively and to provide the required advice and support the organisation requires.

Other options:

None, or less additional resource could be agreed for these key areas.  The risk with this option is that the service areas will continue to be under resourced and will not be well placed to drive and support the significant growth ambitions and recovery priorities of the Council and also to meet the significant financial challenge the Council now faces over the medium term.

A reduced ambition and less priorities could be considered which could be met from within existing resources.  The Council has, however, fully committed to the delivery of the 2050 Ambition, refreshed roadmap, outcomes and administration recovery priorities and is relying on these to drive the future recovery and growth of the Borough forward.

Note: The decisions in 1-2 above constitute a Council Function. The decisions in 3-4 above constitute an Executive Function

Eligible for call in to: Policy and Resources Scrutiny Committee

Executive Members: Cllrs Gilbert and Woodley