HIGHLY-PAID managers are among the casualties of Kirklees Council’s job cuts, the Examiner can reveal.

The council plans to make 1,500 of its 11,200 non-school staff redundant in the next three years.

And the Examiner understands that 13 of those losing their jobs will be senior managers.

The council’s Innovation and Efficiencies Programme will see 36% of top jobs at the council go.

The number of directors will be cut from seven to four while the number of heads of service will be reduced from 29 to 19.

The changes will get underway at the end of March.

Kirklees currently has directors for adults and communities; children and young people; organisation development; environment, transportation and property; human resources; finance and regeneration.

Last year the post of director of organisation development was advertised with a salary of between £106,000 and £119,000.

The job loss programme is being overseen by the director of human resources Cliff Stewart, whose post is likely to be among those that go.

Details of what redundancy packages the officials will be offered have not been made available.

The senior management cuts are part of a wider job loss programme announced last year.

Kirklees plans to slash its budget by 20% to deal with the public spending freeze expected after this year’s general election.

It is the biggest-ever cost-cutting exercise faced by the council since its inception in 1974.

Last month Kirklees wrote to 11,200 staff asking them to consider applying for voluntary redundancy – with older workers also entitled to early retirement.

The council plans to reduce its non-school workforce from 11,200 to 9,700 by 2013 – a cut of 13%.

Mr Stewart told the Examiner last month there would be few job losses among key frontline staff such as social workers, home carers, cleaners and catering staff.

The 8,000 Kirklees staff working in schools, including teachers and classroom assistants, are not affected by the cuts.

KIRKLEES has seven directors of service, with three to go.

They are responsible for 29 heads of service.

Merran McRae is director of adults and communities with heads of service for:

Strategic housing

Safer, stronger communities

Adult social care operations

Commissioning and planning

Group services

Alison O’Sullivan is director of children and young people, with heads of service for:

Resources and support

Learning

Safeguarding and specialist provision

Planning, performance and commissioning

Localities

Jane Scullion is director for organisation development whose heads of service are responsible for:

Legal services

Performance and communication

Policy and governance

e-government and ICT

Janet Russell is director for environment, transportation and property:

Assistant director for design and property service

Assistant director for highways

Assistant director for environmental services

Head of environment unit

Head of catering and cleaning

Building works manager

Adrian Lythgo is director of finance with a management team of four:

Head of revenues and benefits

Assistant director for accountancy

Assistant director for audit, risk and procurement

Payments and common services manager

Ken Gillespie is director of regeneration and works with:

Assistant director for regeneration

Head of planning

Head of economic development

Head of culture and leisure

Cliff Stewart is director of human resources and works with the head of human resources Rebecca Jones.