CASH-strapped Thurrock Council, which seems likely to have to make significant service cuts when its 2027-28 budget comes up for debate in a couple of weeks' time, is still planning to expand its senior management team – proposing a new director role with a likely salary in excess of £115,000 – though it could be substantially more.

The council was scheduled to announce its proposed budget for the next financial year at a meeting of the Corporate Overview & Scrutiny committee on Thursday, 5 November, but Thurrock Nub News understands the authority's financial position is in such disarray, that the meeting was cancelled.

That committee meeting has been rescheduled for Tuesday, 24 November when it is anticipated significant cuts to front line services will be on the agenda.

In the interim, next Thursday (19 November) the council's General Service Committee will meet, when it is expected changes to its senior leadership will be nodded through.

They include a recommended green light for three major appointments.

Two are replacements for officers who have left, or are to leave, the authority for 'better paid' jobs elsewhere.

Director Legal & Strategic Services Helen Nicol and interim IT chief Paul Day are reported to have moved to more senior roles in London boroughs. Despite the prospective purge on spending, their jobs are recommended for replacement.

And a new post of 'Director of People Services' is proposed. The basic salary for that position is £115,000 but as it will place power in the postholder above several other directors who have bigger salaries, the package could soar.

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Thurrock Council does not currently have a 'Director of People Services' on its Senior Leadership Team. Instead, the people and HR function sits within the Corporate Services directorate and is managed at the 'Assistant Director and Head of Service' level where the role is held by Mykela Smith, who leads the council's human resources, organisational development, resourcing, and workforce improvement functions. It is not proposed she be replaced, but she would will serve under another new director level.

At least two of the new positions are likely to report directly to Executive Director of Corporate Services & Monitoring Officer Dan Fenwick, who nets at least £160,000 for his current role.