PLANS for a top-to-bottom restructure of the county council in a bid to save £6 million have been backed by cabinet.

Worcestershire County Council’s cabinet agreed to move ahead with the first stage of the restructure of the authority which deals with directors and other chief officers.

As part of the plans, the number of chief officers would fall from 16 to 14 and the authority’s head of finance would be scrapped.

Other changes, which include the creation of a directorate of people to include adult services, libraries, the county’s archive service as well as Public Health and commissioning for children’s services, are expected to save around £115,000.

Councillor Simon Geraghty, leader of Worcestershire County Council, said it was “essential” the authority was reformed to make sure it was working in the most effective and efficient way and was value for money for taxpayers.

Cllr Geraghty said the council needed to be “fit for the future” and the restructure was going ahead to make sure it was sustainable for at least the next three to five years.

He said: “This was really an opportunity to redesign the council for the future and to see how we work and how we operate.”

The county council has not revealed how many jobs are expected to be cut in the future but has set a revised target of April 2020 for the restructure to be completed by.

The county council said it would be reviewing “the entire shape and size” of the 2,800-strong authority almost a year ago when it announced it needed to save £17 million by March.

If the proposal goes ahead, the county council would have three directors as well as a chief executive for Worcestershire Children First, the new company running children’s services from October.