Two Grantham councillors have blasted a restructure at South Kesteven District Council.

However, members backed the move, which will save the council £300,000 this year and put it on a better financial footing in the longer term.

No numbers were given on how many staff will be affected, and neither would the council say how many will receive 'pay offs.'

At the meeting of the 'full' council yesterday, Coun Louise Clack (Lab- Grantham Earlesfield) noted how a report by the council's chief executive had just been signed off a couple of day's previously, and delivered to her just the day before, giving insufficient time for proper debate.

"This is about people losing their livelihoods in an unprecedented pandemic," she said.

Coun Clack noted the report contained comment from a council officer who said officers are not listened to and are ignored at the council.

"We are making people redundant. We are cutting people's salaries. This is really important stuff. This is people losing their job, their identity. This is people not able to pay their mortgages."

Calling for a decision on the restructure to be deferred, she continued: "It deserves time for serious consideration and deliberation. It deserves more than 24 hours."

Fellow Labour Earlesfield councillor Lee Steptoe then said he was ''absoloutely flabbergasted" that the leader of the council's Independent Group, Paul Wood, has backed the restructure.

"I don't know the intricacies of the restructure but once again the timing has to be questioned. We are in the middle of the pandemic. Surely this is the time for some stability. Surely this is the time for the restructure to be postponed?

"We are awaiting the government white paper on Local Government re-organisation that potentially means South Kesteven District Council maybe disbanded in 2-3 years. I am not ruling out a restructure forever. We only had one last year. So why is one needed quite so soon?"

Coun Steptoe continued: "I can't believe what it does for staff morale. Restructure is a polite word for redundancies and chaos."

"Leaner, fitter organisations are great buzzwords. It means ordinary staff with families to support lose their jobs."

Citing the pandemic, he said: "At best this seems untimely, at worse this seems reckless. Officers have worked so hard to mitigate this virus. What a way to reward them!"

Coun Phil Dilks (Ind- Deeping St James) again reminded the council it had only completed a restructure last year, which saw a clearing out of the 'entire senior management team.'

"Senior officers did not know from one week to another that they would be called in. A sign on the dotted line in return for a golden handshake pay-off."

Coun Dilks said the council was given the same buzzwords last year, and he was worried that there might be a need for another restructure in a few months.

However, Coun Mark Whittington (Con- Barrowby Gate) said that the council has a new leader and chief executive and living in a pandemic does not mean other issues go away, so SKDC needed this restructure.

He noted a 'payback' of savings in three years, saying that the council needs to save £2.4M over three years to balance its books due to declining government grants and the restructure would deliver 29 per cent of that.

"Any organisation has to be more streamlined. We have to modernise and streamline processes. Everybody has to do it in the private sector. The public sector should not be immune."

Any delay would undermine the vigour of the changes, he continued, staff have been consulted and it was best to accept a speedy resolution.

Coun Philip Knowles (Bourne East) welcomed the restructure and whilst the changes would cost £1M, it was 'fair.'

Noting how changes introduced by former council leader Matthew Lee (Con- Stamford St Mary's), which saw people joining SKDC from Peterborough, were being reversed, he continued: "The Peterborough project has now being discredited completely and put in the dustbin of history."

"The new leader and chief executive indicated existing structure was not fit for purpose in this world."

After Coun Ashley Baxter (Ind- Market and West Deeping) asked about numbers affected and pay-offs, the chief executive Karen Bradford, declined to give numbers, saying the council has a policy to redeploy staff where it can and it was working with them on this.

"If there has been any settlement, that will be reported in the statement of accounts in next year's budget," she added.

Earlier, Coun Paul Wood, leader of the Independent group told the meeting that every organisation needs a restructure 'now and then' and when the new chief executive was appointed, that was one of her main tasks.

"Karen has been doing a magnificent job," he continued.

"Yes, there are some members of staff not too happy with it. The restructure has produced what we want. It's produced the savings that we want. It's made us a leaner and fitter organisation to go forward."

• The full speech from SKDC leader Coun Kelham Cooke explaining the restructure is below:

"I am pleased to present to council today our proposed corporate restructure which aligns with and supports our vision and priorities set out in our Corporate Plan. At our full council meeting on 2 March, when we set our budget for the year ahead, a corporate restructure was confirmed as an action to save an estimated £300,000 per year. However, the world has changed since those pre-lockdown days, and we, as a council, have had to adjust our thinking, our priorities and our finances accordingly. So the proposed restructure before you today takes account of very real current financial pressures and the need to continue to deliver critical services and sustainable and dynamic growth for South Kesteven. The restructure provides the savings as required for the budget. It presents a leaner strategic management team, and it deals with a number of issues in relation to salary scales, market supplements and service divisions. Our Chief Executive, Karen Bradford, has led the process from start to finish. She first presented a report on the restructure to our Employment Committee on 29th July, where it was unanimously agreed that the Chief Executive should move forward with the report, undertaking formal consultations with our trade unions and those members of our staff who are directly affected by the restructure. As detailed in the report this process was undertaken in full, and the findings of the consultation are attached to this report. Madam Chairman, I am acutely aware that this report before us today is not some abstract exercise, it is about people's lives and livelihoods, and it is about the future of this council. We cannot deliver on our vision for South Kesteven without our hardworking, dedicated and loyal staff; and they cannot deliver for us if the corporate structure of the council does not properly align with our priorities set out in our Corporate Plan. Therefore, I am pleased to note that our Chief Executive has not only spent a great deal of personal time speaking with those members of staff directly affected, but also ensured a process that respects the sensitivity of corporate restructure and the impact on those affected. As detailed in the report the Chief Executive has considered the feedback from the consultation and, as a result, the report does present a number of amendments to the original proposals, which were presented back to our Employment Committee last week and agreed unanimously. Some restructure work has already started, namely with our Finance and HR teams. Further restructures will be undertaken in respct of our Communications, Business Support, Housing, Arts and Culture and IT teams. A full monitoring report will be presented back to our Employment Committee in six months' time. Our corporate restructure and our Corporate Plan will work hand-in-glove to provide TeamSK with clarity, vision, and direction underpinned by a logical and lean structure with clear lines of responsibility and accountability. Therefore, I have no hesitation in recommending this report to you today and urging you to give it your full and considered support."