The Chief Officers' Employment Panel approved a new remuneration package for the Director of Digital, Data and Customer Experience and agreed to restructure senior management posts within the Place Directorate. The panel also approved a severance payment.

Director of Digital, Data and Customer Experience Remuneration Package

The panel approved a remuneration package for the Director of Digital, Data and Customer Experience, with a salary range of £118,359 to £132,948. This role has been re-evaluated under the Council's job evaluation scheme, resulting in a grade change from D1 (Assistant Director) to D2 (Director). The report highlighted that the additional duties previously considered interim are now permanent and crucial for delivering the Council's priorities. The financial implications of this regrading are a net increase of £27,943, which is offset by savings from other directorate restructures, leaving a residual budget shortfall of £7,608. This shortfall will be met from savings within the People's Directorate restructure.

The report also noted changes to Chief Officer grades, with those at D3 now becoming Strategic Directors, each with smaller, more focused portfolios. This shift is part of a broader change from a Corporate Director model to a Strategic Director model, aiming to foster more corporate working. The D4 grade is also set to be deleted from the Council's senior management structure.

Restructuring of Place Senior Management Posts

The panel approved remuneration packages for two new Strategic Director posts within the restructured Place Directorate: Strategic Director of Housing and Regeneration, and Strategic Director of Culture, Environment and Economy. Both roles are at grade D3, with salary ranges of £132,168 to £145,575. This restructuring involves separating the existing Place Directorate into these two new directorates and deleting the Corporate Director of Place (D4) role.

The Managing Director explained that this change aims to provide additional strategic capacity to areas of the Council that are central to the Corporate Plan, including regeneration partnerships, enforcement, and a new Leisure Strategy. The current single Corporate Director role was deemed insufficient to oversee such a large portfolio. The new Strategic Directors will report directly to the Managing Director and be members of the Corporate Leadership Team (CLT).

As part of these changes, the Chief Planning Officer will have a dotted reporting line to the Managing Director to manage potential conflicts of interest arising from the Council's involvement in the Harrow Strategic Development Partnership. The report also confirmed that the deletion of the Corporate Director of Place role provides the option to permanently remove the D4 grade from the Council's senior management structure. The net increase in cost for these new roles is £178,284, which will be funded by savings from the restructure of the People's management team. The panel also approved the proposed appointment process for these two Strategic Director roles, which will initially involve an internal advertisement with a six-month interim period, with external advertising if no suitable candidate is appointed.

Severance Matter

The panel received and approved an urgent confidential report concerning a severance payment exceeding £100,000. The details of this matter were discussed in private session, with the reasons for exclusion of the press and public citing information relating to an individual and the financial or business affairs of a particular person.