Two councils – Northumberland CC and Wandsworth LBC – are set to face radical management overhauls in preparation of further budget cuts in the next spending round period.

Northumberland CC has set out plans to cull a swathe of senior and middle-management posts as part of a £42m budget savings exercise that would cut the number of directorates from five to three and scrap the role of chief executive.

A Labour spokesman for Northumberland said: ‘We'll be moving from a CEO to an executive lead director who will work with the Labour administration to deliver a real step change in service delivery.'

On Wednesday 20 November, Conservative flagship Wandsworth LBC will confirm previous plans to merge two pairs of departments, reducing the total from six to four.

A joint adult and children's and education services department and a combined housing and environmental and community services department will be established.

Cllr Rex Osborn, leader of Wandsworth's Labour group, told The MJ the council had suffered from top-heavy management and allowed senior salaries to balloon to ridiculous levels. 

‘This is not the time to be paying six-figure sums and bonuses to senior management in local government,' said Cllr Osborn. ‘It's time to rationalise to see if we can save some cash.'