Purpose

Approval of a new post of Joint Assistant
Director of People

Content

Decision:

1.       
To approve the creation of a permanent new role of
Joint Assistant Director of People effective from 1 April 2025,
subject to budget approval by full Council.

2.       
To delegate authority to the Strategic Director for
Democracy, Law and People to make any changes to the role,
following the outcome of consultation with staff and the
Union.

3.       
To agree that the post of Joint Assistant Director
of People will be a shared post with Waverley Borough Council which
will be governed by the existing principles of the Inter-Authority
Agreement.
Reasons:

1.    
In December 2024, the Head of Paid Service made a
change to the Senior Officer structure by moving the responsibility
of the Council’s HR & OD function from Strategy &
Corporate Services to the Legal & Democratic Services
Directorate. The Directorate will become known as the Democracy,
Law & People Directorate from 6 January 2025 and the Strategic
Director will be known as the Strategic Director for Democracy, Law
& People. There will be a gap in the HR & OD structure
between Guildford’s Lead Human Resources Specialist and the
Strategic Director and this is unmanageable; the support service is
critical to service delivery of all functions across the Council
and greater capacity in the team is required. Further, specialist
knowledge is required at a more senior level; there is a need for
an HR professional at Assistant Director level, to be a member of
the Joint Leadership Team (JLT).

2.    
To respond to the concerns raised by Statutory
Officers in relation to the robustness of governance arrangements
for both Waverley Borough Council and Guildford Borough Council
which has resulted in the need for an improvement plan, and
continuous improvement thereafter to ensure good governance, and
compliance with the Council’s statutory duties relating to
best value.

3.    
To undertake a comprehensive review of the service
delivery, systems, processes and procedures in the HR & OD
function and to develop and implement a service improvement
plan.

4.    
To deliver the capacity and capability needed to
embed success in ongoing collaboration efforts and enhance the pace
of future collaboration, transition to shared services and
realisation of cashable and non-cashable savings.

5.    
To lead the restructure of the HR & OD service
which will reduce dependency on expensive interim staff, drive
alignment of the systems, policies and procedures of the two
functions and implement succession planning and career development
opportunities and provide resilience for the two
functions.
Other options considered and rejected by the
Executive:
Options 1 (Do nothing) and 2 (Create a post for
each council).
Details of any conflict of interest declared by
the Leader or lead councillors and any dispensation
granted:
None.