Jobs paying up to £94,000 advertised by East Lothian Council

New senior posts at East Lothian Council have been advertised with salaries of nearly £94,000 a year.

Jobs: Councillor Stuart Currie

The new heads of service roles are part of a restructuring of the council’s Central Management Team (CMT), announced last November.

The previous line-up of the CMT saw the chief executive, two depute chief executives and the director of health and social care partnership overseeing six heads of service and four chief operating officers.

However, the restructure saw the chief operating officers role removed and introduced a new executive director post.

The new CMT line-up has the chief executive, four executive directors including the director of the health and social care partnership, and nine heads of service.

Four heads of service posts for education, corporate support, housing and development are being advertised via recruitment specialist Solace with a salary of £93,932 for a 37-hour week.

The restructure was criticised by SNP councillors, who refused to support it when it was put before council for approval behind closed doors in November.

Councillor Stuart Currie, SNP Group leader, questioned the decision to create an additional executive “£100,000-plus post”, saying: “We don’t need any more chiefs right now, what is needed is support for workers at the coal face.”

Monica Patterson, chief executive, said at the time: “Our priority is to ensure that East Lothian Council continues to have a senior leadership team with the talent, vision and capacity to think and act strategically, and engage with our communities and partners, to deliver the very best for East Lothian in dynamic and challenging circumstances."

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