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Staffing Matters & Urgency Committee |
19 April 2021 |
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Report of the Corporate Director Place
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Request to extend the Interim Assistant Director Housing
Summary
1. SMU in September agreed to appoint to the Interim Assistant Director of Housing. This interim position was based on the fact that the CLG structure was being consulted on and hence no requirement to fill on a permanent basis at that time.
2. SMU have agreed the interim structure in December’s meeting and that structure is being implemented.
3. Due to the complexities of the structures and the transitional periods we are seeking an extension to the interim Assistant Director post for two months until end of May 2021, to ensure service delivery and staff support is maintained.
Background
4. The committee agreed in September that the vacant Assistant Director Housing would not be appointed to on a permanent basis due to the impending CLG restructure.
5. An internal recruitment and selection process was carried out and an Interim AD appointed.
6. The CLG structure as agreed in SMU on 20 December has begun implementation, however the movement of services around is transitional and cannot all happen on one day.
7. The Head of Service structure to support the new CLG structure is currently being finalised ready for consultation.
8. The current interim arrangements are only agreed until the 31 March 2021, however it is not possible for the Head of Service structure within housing to be consulted on in such a short space of time. Therefore we have concern about the potential gap in leadership.
9. We are therefore seeking to extend the interim arrangements until the end of May 2021.
Options
Option 1 – To extend the interim arrangements for one month
10. This maintains the current arrangements and gives some stability across the service.
11. It enables meaningful consultation to take place with all affected staff within the proposed new Head of Service structure.
12. The cost of this option is £1.8k per month including oncosts. A total of £3.6k.
Option 2 – Not to extend the interim arrangements
13. There is the option not to extend however there is concern on service delivery and also impact on staff wellbeing.
14. This would increase the direct reports into the Director by a further 3, at a time when we need to Director to be leading through the other changes and transition to the new Directorate. In addition the delegated authorities are not in place within Housing and hence increase of decisions going up to the Director level.
Consultation
15. The Head of Paid Service is supportive of this proposal.
Council Plan
16. Ensuring roles are sufficiently covered contribute to delivering the Council Plan and its priorities.
Implications
17. Thefollowing implications have been considered:
· Financial – An additional cost of £3.6k for the two month extension if option one is agreed. This can be funded through budgets held within the Housing Revenue Account
· Human Resources (HR) – There are no additional HR elements to be followed if option one is agreed, as the person was appointed to the interim role through the Appointments sub-committee.
· Equalities - There are no equalities implications.
· Legal – There are no implications.
· Crime and Disorder – There are not crime and disorder implications.
· Information Technology (IT) – There are no IT implications.
· Property – There are no property implications.
· Other – There are no other implications.
Risk Management
18. The risk of no extension may result in a cap in management capacity that could risk delivery against the Council Plan and its priorities.
Recommendations
19. It is recommended that Staffing Matters and Urgency Committee:
· Approve to option one and extend the current interim arrangements for two months.
· This extension if approved will cost £3.6k.
Reason: To ensure full managerial cover is provided to ensure service delivery can be maintained.
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Contact Details
Specialist Implications Officer(s) Legal: Janie Berry – Director of Governance Finance: Patrick Looker - Finance Manager
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Wards Affected: |
All |
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For further information please contact the author of the report |
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