Bournemouth Council appoints £80,000 per annum "Director of Savings"

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The newest executive director of Bournemouth Council tasked with finding up to £7.2 million of savings every year, has started her work.

Manjeet Gill formally took up the post of interim executive director for business improvement on Thursday – just two days after councillors approved the controversial job.

The post was originally called director of transformation but was changed to something deemed easier to understand. Similarly, the project she is in charge of has also had its title altered. It was originally called the ‘Efficiency Review 2010’ but is now to be known as the ‘Shaping Success’ programme.

Working four days a week for 12 months on a salary of around £80,000 a year, Ms Gill will spearhead the council’s bid to outsource four key services – ICT, revenues, benefits and facilities management.

She will also try to make four other departments more efficient – human resources and payroll, customer first, procurement and property. The predicted savings are between £4.1m and £7.2m a year.

Leader of the council, Cllr Stephen MacLoughlin said: "Now that council has fully endorsed the Shaping Success programme, it is essential that we keep the momentum and drive it forward with passion and enthusiasm. I am confident that Manjeet is the best person to help negotiate the right savings for our residents. Bournemouth’s local taxpayers rightly expect us to act on every opportunity to provide better quality and more efficient services, and with Manjeet taking the lead, we can achieve efficiency benefits quicker and many times greater than we would without her.”