Search is on for new senior officers for unitary councils

A national recruitment drive launches today to find and appoint the chief executives and statutory director roles that will head up Northamptonshire’s two new unitary councils.

Legislation requires that by the end of December this year, a permanent Chief Executive, Monitoring Officer and Chief Finance Officer (Section 151) must be in place for each of the North and West Northamptonshire unitary councils, which will be created on 1 April 2021.

Recruitment is also underway for a Director of Children’s Services covering both North and West unitary councils to manage the countywide contract for the planned Northamptonshire Children’s Trust; as well two Directors for Adult Social Services, one for each new authority.

The posts are being advertised from today and interviews are scheduled to take place in July and August. Application details available at: www.shapethefuturenorthants.co.uk

Councillor Russell Roberts, Leader of North Northamptonshire Shadow Authority said: “The launch of this recruitment campaign marks another significant step towards the creation of the new unitary councils.

“We are advertising these statutory officer roles nationally, roles that will be core to each council’s new leadership team.

“We want to make appointments as early as we can to enable whoever we appoint to be directly involved in the many key decisions we will have to make.”

Councillor Ian McCord, Leader of the West Northamptonshire Shadow Authority added: “We have a chance for a new beginning, we have one opportunity to get this right.

“To be successful we need to recruit the very best talent to lead and shape the creation of the new council alongside us politicians.

“This is the beginning of a process to ensure that we can have a fresh start and a bright future.”