Agenda item

This report seeks approval to make severance payments, resulting from the implementation of the new Adult Social Care (ASC) Senior Management Structure, consisting predominantly of actuarial strain costs relating to the release of a pension on the basis that the employees’ posts are redundant.

As the pension strain costs that the council must bear as part of the Pension scheme rules, amount to over £100,000 for each employee the General Purposes Committee is required to approve the payments.

Claudia Brown (Director Adult Social Care) introduced a report seeking GPC approval for the proposed redundancies resulting from the implementation of the new Adult Social Care (ASC) Senior Management Structure, following completion of the formal consultation process (21 January – 18 February 2026).  Members were advised that as the pension strain costs, which the council was required to meet under the Local Government Pension Scheme, exceeded £100,000, General Purposes Committee would be required to approve the payments identified.

In presenting the report, members were advised of the background and rationale supporting the restructure which had been designed to strengthen operational alignment with the resident journey, reduce duplication, improve strategic oversight, and address longstanding inefficiencies across senior management arrangements.

Confirmation was also provided regarding the approach adopted in terms of the restructure involving competitive assimilation, job matching and ring-fencing processes all of which had been completed in accordance with organisational policy.  As a result, whilst one candidate had been able to secure a position within the new structure the others had been unsuccessful in being able to secure alternative roles available leading to the related redundancy and severance arrangements General Purpose Committee was being requested to approve.  In outlining the rationale supporting the restructure and proposals within the report (as detailed within section 3.6 of the report) members were advised that the restructure had been designed to deliver a more coherent, resident-aligned model with notice periods for redundancy aligned with the commencement of the new structure and financial year.

Having thanked Claudia Brown for introducing the report, the Chair then moved on to invite questions and comments from the Committee, with the following comments highlighted:

• Members sought assurance that the continuation of service improvement would not be compromised following the restructure and resulting redundancies. In response, Claudia Brown (Director Adult Social Care) advised that the restructure had been designed to resolve operational and customer journey misalignment whilst also addressing senior leadership capacity, clarifying professional pathways, eliminating duplication and enhancing accountability with capacity being enhanced at service manager level designed to support the continued improvement of service quality and financial efficiencies.

Having thanked all those involved their contributions to the discussion and consideration of the item and noted the exempt information contained within the appendix to the report, it was RESOLVED:

(1)      To approve the redundancies set out in Appendix A of the report (containing exempt information) associated with the implementation of the ASC Senior Management restructure.

(2)      To approve the associated redundancy, severance and pension strain costs as required under the Council’s Pay Policy, Local Government Pension Scheme regulations, and constitutional requirements relating to senior officer payments.

(3)      To note that the payments did not include any element additional to sums calculated in accordance with the council’s Managing Change Policy and the requirements of the Local Government Pension Scheme.

(4)      As an additional recommendation, it was also agreed to delegate authority to the Head of Paid Service to approve the severance amount due to Employee B once the precise figure had been received.