Richmond and Wandsworth pursue single staffing structure in London first

Two London boroughs have agreed to set up a single staffing structure by March 2017, with a view to achieving savings of up to £10m a year.

Wandsworth and Richmond said the initial focus would be on merging management structures in order to reduce duplication and the proportion of spending on senior management.

“In the longer term there would be opportunities for further savings to reduce overheads, for example, getting better deals from suppliers when commissioning services,” the councils added.

Under the proposals the two authorities would be managed by a single chief executive, Paul Martin, currently chief executive at Wandsworth, and a deputy chief executive and director of resources, Mark Maidment, who is Richmond’s director of finance and corporate services.

This arrangement will be fully put in place on the retirement of Gillian Norton, Richmond’s chief executive, and Chris Buss, Wandsworth’s deputy chief executive and director of finance.

Wandsworth and Richmond stressed that the two councils would “continue to be separate sovereign bodies with their own elected councillors, cabinets and leaders, maintaining their distinct identities and retaining the ability to develop policies and priorities that matter to their local residents”.

The deal between the two authorities follows the collapse of discussions between Richmond and Kingston.

Lord True, leader of Richmond Council, said: “We have already made savings of £30m over the past four years; we know we need to make the same again in the period to 2018. We have said – and residents strongly support this – that we wanted to do as much of this as possible by sharing management costs with others.

“The public expect us to protect key services if we can. That is why it is our duty to accept sometimes painful reductions in back office costs.”

Lord True added: “We had hoped for a total deal with Kingston, but after six months of talks no conclusion had been reached. We could not agree on a single, joint management approach which could work effectively for both authorities. We thus suspended the talks, leaving each authority free to seek alternatives.”

He said Richmond had now been able to agree with Wandsworth its preferred approach of a shared officer structure from chief executive down.

Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council said: “The time is now right to make further savings ‘behind the scenes’ whilst helping to ensure Wandsworth’s residents enjoy the same levels of key services as they do now.

"By working together we can tap into more opportunities for savings and innovation that will mean better outcomes for residents."

Richmond is part of the four-authority South London Legal Partnership hosted by Merton Council, while Wandsworth employs 14 solicitors.