Senior job cuts across three London boroughs will save the authorities £40m in shared service management costs by 2015/16.
After uniting £300m of services, Hammersmith and Fulham, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and Westminster City Council are on track to make shared yearly savings of £7.7m in this financial year.
A progress report after a year of the three-way partnership found that 175 senior posts have been lost across the town halls, with 62 senior and middle management roles already going within children’s, adult social and library services.
The combination of environmental services in the boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea has seen the authorities shedding seven senior management posts and sharing a chief executive.
The ‘One Year On’ report also showed that the partnership has supported the transfer of local power, with employee mutuals being launched to support schools and youth services within the boroughs.
Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government, said that the work done to avoid the reduction of frontline services through administration cuts was admirable.
‘The success of the tri-borough approach is testament to the innovation and forward thinking of Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and Kensington and Chelsea.
‘No council should even contemplate cutting services before they have considered following this example of how to join forces with neighbours to share back office services, procure better, slash in-house management and cut overhead costs,’ Pickles added.
