DUDLEY Council fat cats have been accused of getting the cream of big pay rises under a management reshuffle.

The authority looks set to approve a restructure of senior management jobs which would see five director and 17 assistant director (AD) positions removed and replaced with three strategic directors and eight chief officers.

However salaries for the new jobs would get whopping increases with the lower level wage jumping from £70,000 to as much as £99,000 while pay for the upper level jobs could go from £104,000 to a maximum of £127,000.

The planned increases have been justified to attract suitable candidates for the jobs but the proposal has been slammed by Dudley’s Conservatives.

Tory group leader Cllr Patrick Harley, said: “We do not accept that 11 very privileged individuals will have effectively been exempted from the austerity measures of the last four years by having a pay increase of between 30 and 40 per cent whilst other staff have had their pay frozen.

“This looks for all the world like fat cats looking after themselves. This is bad management, we might as well have gotten rid of the surplus ADs and created three new directors on current pay scales.”

A report on the changes by council chief executive John Polychronakis, whose annual pay is £157,000, will be discussed by Dudley’s cabinet on Wednesday (October 1).

Labour’s Cllr Pete Lowe, Dudley deputy leader and lead on transformation, said: “We have always been committed to reviewing the management structure and these proposals are the most radical ever made at the council since its formation back in 1974. It will reduce management posts significantly while ensuring services continue to be delivered to a high standard.

“We are continuing to tackle significant reductions in funding and the innovative proposals will also generate savings of around £1million.”

However the Conservatives hit back arguing if pay for the top jobs remained at current levels the council would be able to save an additional £300,000 and higher pay should only be offered if the authority is unable to recruit the right calibre of people.

Cllr Paul Brothwood from UKIP said: “We will not support any increase in salaries for senior management, it does not feel right. The people in Dudley Council who are on zero-hours contracts – they are the people who should be the first to benefit.”

Cllr Brothwood added he believes there are many high quality senior managers from the private sector who would be willing to take the new jobs at current salary levels.

In his report Mr Polychronakis also said: “We are radically reducing the number of senior managers, there will be a number of voluntary and possibly compulsory redundancies. Five officers have expressed an interest in voluntary redundancy.”

He added redundancy payments cannot be calculated at this stage and there may be the need for temporary jobs in senior management to manage the changeover to the new system.

Cllr Brothwood said : “It’s jobs for the boys, we need people who want to work to make life better for the people of Dudley, not work for fat pay packets.”