THURROCK Council is planning to recruit a phalanx of new heads of financial management - posting details of four top jobs that all come with salary packages approaching £100,000.

The search for new officers comes at a time of austerity and change, with a deeply biting set of budget cuts about to be announced as the authority bids to fund an operation budget gap of more than £18 million for the next financial year.

It is widely expected that there will be severe cuts to some front line services. Among the changes set to come in the new year is the introduction of garden waste removal and a plan to switch to fortnightly bin collections of all kinds. Cuts to transport services have already been announced and it is likely a wide rnage of non-statutory services will disappear.

The top management jobs posted all come with minumim salaries of more than £70,000 and will be accompanied with pension packages.

Senior managers are being sought to manage housing finances, strategy and planning finances, financial strategy and business development and  financial assurance for internal audit, risk and assurance.

The vacancies come ahead of the expected appointment of a range of new directors - including the newly created role of Assistant CEO that will all come with six figure packages. 

And they come in the wake of news that the council has already spent more than £340,000 over the last four months bringing in experts from accountants PriceWaterhouseCooper.

At last week's cabinet meeting finance portfolio Cllr Graham Snell defended that decision, saying the council does not have the capacity to carry out the work. It also intends to spend another £800,000 in coming months to sort out its budget.

Other newly-post top-ranking jobs currently available include a vacancy for Head of Public Health – Public Mental Health and Vulnerable Populations.

The current average salary at Thurrock Council is £30,444.

In the last set of available figures from April last it was recorded the authority had 13 officers receiving basic salaries of more than £100,000 and a further 259 posts earning more than £50,00 - 44 of those earning more than £75,000. Those figures do not include pension contributions.

A number of highly paid interim directors and commissioners were brought in following government intervention in the wake of the council's financial collapse, though they are being funded by money set aside from the giovernment to transform the council.